


Christmas with the Avengers

by Lyri46



Series: Another Chance Christmas Specials [3]
Category: Deadpool (Movieverse), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Bonding, F/M, M/M, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-06
Updated: 2021-01-16
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:47:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 28,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27919969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lyri46/pseuds/Lyri46
Summary: When the Guardians arrive wanting to celebrate Christmas with the team they use it as an excuse to get all of their new and old friends together over the festive period. Will friendships be strengthened or will they all finish the Christmas period never wanting to see each other again?
Relationships: Peter Parker/Wade Wilson, Scott Lang/Hope Van Dyne, Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Series: Another Chance Christmas Specials [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1562200
Comments: 62
Kudos: 51





	1. Arrivals

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Samus03 (Rosevear)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rosevear/gifts), [KaroBlack](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaroBlack/gifts), [RandomYarning](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RandomYarning/gifts).



‘December hits and the packages start flying in,’ Sam groans as he empties his armful of packages onto the sofa next to her.

Natasha quirks an eyebrow. ‘What happened to make you such a bah humbug? You do realise this is people showing their appreciation for us right? Definitely something you want to encourage.’

‘You aren’t the one Steve sent down to the post room on the first of December to pick up the packages. There’s a big box down there I need to go back for as well,’ he responds, turning and heading back out the door.

‘I’ll get started opening these then shall I?’ she says to the empty room, putting her coffee down on the table and reaching for a small box and unwrapping the paper. Inside she finds a small papier-mache Hulk, painted a bright green with a large roar on his face. She smiles and takes out the note that accompanies it, written in a young child’s scrawl.

‘ _I made this statue of Mr Hulk in my art class because I think he’s the coolest Avenger ever. Merry Christmas Mr Hulk! Love Adam.’_

‘Cute,’ she says, putting it to one side for Bruce to find later and reaching for another one. This time she opens an envelope and finds a picture of Spider-Man swinging past the Empire State Building, this one done by a very talented artist, who had signed their name in the corner and written a brief thank you on the back to Spider-Man for helping to keep the city safer.

Natasha looks up as Sam huffs his way back into the common area, a large box in his arms.

‘You know if you’d said you wanted a hand I would have come with you and helped,’ she tells him, standing up from the couch.

‘No I got it,’ he says, putting it next to the table in a dramatic manner that would make Tony proud. ‘Man that thing is heavier than it looks.’

‘Where’s it from?’ she asks, coming closer to have a better look.

‘Some group in New York I think? The return address is a community centre by the looks of things. Hang on I’ll go grab some scissors to cut the tape,’ by the time Sam comes back Natasha is still reading the return address. ‘Ring any bells with you?’

‘Nope, let’s take a look.’

Sam cuts the tape holding the box closed and they open the top to reveal the contents. ‘Is this? Have we been sent _Christmas sweaters_?’

Natasha takes out the letter that is sitting on the top and opens the envelope as Sam pulls out a bright red knitted sweater with an Iron Man helmet and snowflake design across it. She laughs as she reads it, then puts it back in the envelope.

‘Well?’ Sam asks, throwing a black sweater towards her, which she soon realises has a red spider wearing reindeer antlers knitted across the front.

‘Seems like Peter’s number one fan got her knitting circle to help with making the whole team a batch of Christmas sweaters,’ at his questioning frown she rolls her eyes. ‘Senora Valdez, that Pete sees most weeks?’

‘Oh the lady he helps with shopping as Spider-Man?’

‘Glad you caught up,’ she teases, and dodges the Winter Soldier sweater he throws at her. ‘Is there really one for the every member of the team in there?’

‘Well we’ve got ours, there’s the Iron Man and Winter Soldier ones,’ Sam reaches into the box, then laughs as he pulls out a green one with a santa hat wearing Hulk on the front. ‘There’s Bruce’s; Steve’s and Wanda’s; Rhodey, Clint, Thor, even a Loki one.’

‘Let me see it!’ Natasha laughs, doubling over at the picture of Loki’s helmet sporting a more reindeer antler design than the usual sleek ones.

‘And there’s two more: Peter’s and…one for Wade? How do they even know Deadpool is part of the team?’

‘If I hadn’t done a background check on Senora Valdez I’d assume she was a spy the way that woman knows things.’

‘She wasn’t?’

‘She was a teacher.’

‘Hey those are just as scary! I had a teacher I swear could see out of the back of her head and through desks. She always knew what was going on,’ Sam says.

‘Always knew what was going on? What’s Widow done this time?’ Bucky grins as he walks into the common area, tying his hair back.

‘Very funny, Barnes,’ she rolls her eyes. ‘Sam was actually talking about a teacher he had in school.’

‘Oh man we had one that would throw the dictionary at you if she caught you misbehaving,’ he laughs in response.

‘Hey Bucky, catch!’ Sam throws Bucky’s knitted sweater over to him.

‘What…what is this?’ the look of confusion on the ex-assassin’s face is priceless.

‘Senora Valdez and her knitting group made us all Christmas sweaters,’ Sam explains, ‘that ones yours and I say we all have to wear ours over Christmas.’

‘We all spending Christmas here?’ he asks them.

‘Seems to be the tradition now,’ she responds, ‘and Clint always joins us the day after so it means I still get to see the family.’

‘The Guardians’ ship is coming in to land outside,’ FRIDAY’s voice interrupts them.

‘What are those guys doing here?’ Sam frowns. ‘I thought they were off searching the galaxy for a way to bring Gamora back?’

‘Well lets go outside and find out,’ Natasha suggests, ‘and hope that it’s not a world-ending event that has brought them here because I quite enjoy having Christmas off.’

‘You and me both,’ Bucky grumbles as they fall into step behind Sam.

They reach the ship just as the doors are opening and the sounds of bickering between Quill and Rocket float down, Wanda hurries up from behind to join them.

‘Rocket I told you this was a bad idea!’

‘You wouldn’t shut up about the stupid thing so we’re coming and doing it so we can see what the big deal is.’

‘I am Groot.’

‘Greetings friends,’ Drax says as the group reaches the ground, ‘Quill has told us about the celebration called Christmas and we would very much like to take part and experience it for ourselves.’

‘He says it was the best thing in the galaxy so it’s got a lot to live up or this guy is giving up his flying privileges for a month,’ Rocket jabs a thumb over his shoulder at Quill who is looking increasingly frustrated.

‘Look Rocket I don’t think it’s fair to just gate crash on these guys’ Christmas that’s all I’m trying to say. Maybe instead of insisting we take part, you should _ask_ first,’ Quill says.

Natasha notices a range of emotions crossing Wanda’s face from the corner of her eye as she looks at Quill. First comes surprise, then something like sadness, then understanding, before she turns a brilliant smile on the group and strides forwards, taking Quill by the arm and dragging him down the walkway and towards the facility.

‘Well you guys definitely came to the right place,’ she cuts across whatever Rocket was going to say in response, ‘we always do a big team Christmas now so there won’t be any problems with you joining in. We even celebrated Yule for Thor, Valkyrie and Loki last year so we do a big combination of two celebrations; and there’s always way too much food so you won’t go hungry. Plus it’s nice to change it up each year and do something different. Come on I’ll show you to your rooms, then we can meet all the team upstairs and start planning. Just you wait till me and Pete fill you in on the decorating plans…’

As Wanda’s voice fades away, the Guardians following in her wake, Bucky raises an eyebrow at Natasha. ‘What do you think all that was about?’

‘She saw something in his mind that made her decide he needed to be a part of this,’ she shrugs. ‘I’m sure it’ll all become clear soon. In the meantime we have a problem.’

‘We do?’ Sam asks.

‘Yeah. Those guys don’t have knitted sweaters.’

‘Oh damn,’ he mutters. ‘We need someone that can knit.’

* * *

‘Just leave it to me.’

‘Anytime the phrase “leave it to me” comes out of your mouth Wade, I get very scared,’ Sam frowns at him. The team have gathered in the common room while they wait for the Guardians to settle in, all of them now looking at their own sweaters, with Loki, Thor and Peter’s ones waiting for them to return to the facility before finding their owners.

‘Just trust me bird brain, I’ll get the sweaters sorted. Who do we need for?’

‘You’ve been spending way too much time with Bucky,’ Sam sighs, ‘anyone would think you two were friends or something.’

‘Absolutely deny any and all accusations of that nature,’ Wade says.

‘Back on topics,’ Wanda rolls her eyes. ‘We need one for each of the Guardians, so: Rocket, Groot, Drax-’

‘Does that guy even _wear_ sweaters?’ Tony asks.

‘-Mantis, Quill and Nebula. Should do them for anyone else we’re inviting?’ Wanda finishes.

‘Yeah so Scott, Hope, Strange and Wong,’ Steve adds.

‘What about T’Challa?’ Wade asks.

‘You want to give the King of Wakanda a knitted sweater you be my guest. I reserve the right to film the interaction,’ Tony smirks.

‘What about Carol? And Fury? Hill?’ Rhodes suggests.

‘Ok, so no pressure,’ Wade rolls his neck. ‘Just nearly fourteen sweaters to get knitted before Christmas. That’s roughly one sweater every day and a half.’

‘Please tell me you aren’t knitting them yourself,’ Sam stares at the merc.

‘You’ll never know.’

‘So,’ Rocket’s voice breaks through the conversation, ‘what is this Christmas crap that Quill has been going on about for like the last month?’

‘I have not been going on about it for a month, maybe for a week at most,’ Quill defends himself.

‘I’d say two,’ Drax inputs, going to the cupboard and taking out a bag of chips.

‘Anyway,’ Natasha rolls her eyes and tries not to think too much about the headaches she’s going to get over this month, ‘why don’t we tell you what we’ve done over the past few years and then you can let us know if there’s anything you used to do for Christmas, Quill?’

‘Good idea,’ Wanda says, gesturing for the others to join them, ‘I’ll make hot chocolate.’

‘Is this one of the Christmas traditions?’ Mantis asks, joining Wanda at the kitchenette.

‘One of many,’ she smiles at the alien as the team fill in the Guardians with their normal Christmas plans.

‘That sounds like a lot of pointless crap,’ Rocket says once they finish. ‘What’s the point in this? Just sounds like an excuse to spend too much money on people for no real reason.’

‘It’s about spending time with family and friends,’ Wanda cuts in, frowning a little at the raccoon, ‘and making memories with them. Catching up with people you haven’t seen in a while.’ 

‘Right,’ Rocket still doesn’t look like he quite understands.

‘You got any traditions that we haven’t mentioned, Quill?’ Sam asks.

‘Uh, no, not that I can think of,’ Quill says hurriedly, ‘that all sounds good to me.’

‘You sure, Quill? Because you answered that very quickly for someone whose been-’

‘Look,’ Quill cuts Rocket off, ‘you want the truth, Rocket? I don’t remember a proper Christmas alright? My mom died when I was young and I got taken by Yondu and his Ravagers and I’ve never celebrated a Christmas since. You know the only things I do remember? Eating so much I couldn’t move, decorating a tree with my mom and her making sure it was the best time of the year. _That’s_ all I remember Rocket, alright?’

There’s a few moments of silence following Quill’s outburst.

‘Right then,’ Rocket shrugs, ‘a whole month of wasting time and money it is then. What’s first?’

‘First,’ Wanda says, with a slight smile, ‘we wait for Peter to get here and then we send him up to the storage to find all the decorations.’

‘Why not just get them now?’ Rocket asks.

‘You don’t have a teenager who can climb walls and go up the ladder yourself,’ Tony replies.


	2. Invitations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wanda and Peter start the Christmas planning, and the team send invitations out to the rest of their friends

Wanda leans against the exit to the school grounds, scanning the crowd of students leaving the halls for the youngest Avenger; she’s already messaged him to say she’d be meeting him, but knowing the trouble he’s run into on previous occasions with classmates, she’d rather be in plain sight to the rest of the student body. Just so she can get a little glowing red light on her fingers if anyone tries to pick on him on her watch.

_Why is it we have to be more protective of him at_ school _than with super villains?_ She shakes her head on a small laugh. She catches sight of Peter as he exits the building with Ned and MJ and waves when he sees her; he turns to say goodbye to his friends and Wanda pushes herself off the fence she’s been leaning on. Hopefully they’ll be able to go soon, as much as she doesn’t actively listen to people’s thoughts sometimes they just think too loudly for her to be able to ignore, and schools are one of the worst places. Her powers have been a little temperamental since they faced Thanos in Wakanda which is making it harder for her to block them out; she can’t go down into the workshop when Tony’s working any more because he thinks too loudly and too quickly and it’s sure to give her a headache.

_Perhaps I should talk to Strange about it,_ she thinks as Peter leaves his friends and comes to join her. There’s a big smile on his face as he pulls her into a tight hug and she feels the tightness in her heart ease a little. Ever since they lost Vision she’s been finding reasons to spend extra time with Peter, his openness and natural enthusiasm and optimism always help to ease her grief for a short time. She’s lucky Wade is so understanding of her stealing his boyfriend so much.

‘So I take it we’re starting Christmas planning today?’ he says as they pull apart. ‘First of December being our now traditional time for starting to celebrate after all,’ he laughs.

‘Oh yes,’ she replies as they head towards the car, for once not driven by Happy but by a SHIELD agent, ‘and this year we’ve got the Guardians with us.’

‘What? No way that’s awesome! What made them come to Earth?’ he asks as they climb into the back of the car.

As the car pulls away Wanda explains the Guardians’ arrival and the argument between Quill and Rocket.

‘Oh wow that sounds awkward,’ Peter laughs. ‘Does that mean we’re going to try and get everyone together this year?’

‘Tony, Steve and Nat are getting hold of people and seeing what their plans are,’ she tells him, ‘hopefully they’ll have answers by the time we get back.’

‘That would be so cool if we could have a huge Christmas with everyone,’ he grins. ‘Do you think we’ll do Yule again? I imagine Thor and Valkyrie will want to celebrate it at New Asgard. I wonder if Loki will join them?’

‘We’ll have to see what they say, perhaps they’ll come and we can do the feast the day after or something.’

‘I’m guessing everyone’s waiting for me to climb up into the attic to get the decorations right?’

Wanda grins and ruffles his hair. ‘What ever gave you that impression?’ She laughs as he starts to grumble.

* * *

‘If anyone suggests going to buy any more decorations I refuse to be the one to get them down next year!’ Peter’s voice calls down from the attic.

‘Is all of this really necessary?’ Nebula asks, looking confused at the amount of boxes that are being passed down. ‘I thought this celebration only lasted a month?’

‘Technically it’s only a day,’ Tony laughs, ‘but everyone usually celebrates for the whole month.’

‘That is crazy,’ she shakes her head, ‘I still don’t fully understand why this is done. Surely there are more productive things to do?’

‘It’s not about being productive,’ Peter’s head appears above them, and Tony’s heart does a little lurch in fright before his brain catches up and reminds him the kid can stick to ceilings and will not fall. ‘It’s about taking time to appreciate those around you and making time for family and friends that you wouldn’t normally see during the year.’

‘I… this is still a strange idea to me,’ she admits, as Peter passes down the last of the boxes. ‘I think this is something that Gamora would have understood more than me.’ Nebula’s face, which is not normally expressive except in showing anger, is clouded over with what Tony can only describe as grief.

He puts a hand on her shoulder. ‘You don’t need to understand it right now, and anyway Christmas means different things to different people; the meaning can change for you anyway. I always used to think it was just another excuse to get drunk and party, and it’s only really been since spending it with the team that I’ve started to look at it the same way Peter does. For me it’s also a time to spoil everyone when they can’t complain I’m spending too much on them.’

‘Loki, Thor and Valkyrie still look at it as an extension of their Yule celebrations,’ Peter adds as he jumps down to join them, ‘and that’s very different to what we celebrate it as. Just look at it as an excuse to study human behaviour and decide if it’s something you want to join in with in the future.’

‘A way to understand humans better? That makes a little more sense I suppose,’ she nods.

‘And a way to get to know this team better,’ Tony suggests. ‘So then if we have to fight together again in the future you’ll be more comfortable around us.’

‘Yes, that makes more sense. Now this celebration doesn’t seem so…’

‘Scary?’ Peter offers.

Nebula frowns. ‘No pointless. There is little that scares me, and certainly not a celebration.’

‘Well,’ he sighs as she carries some of the boxes down to the common room and leaves their sight, ‘at least you tried, kid.’

‘She’ll come round,’ Peter shrugs, picking up some of the boxes, ‘she just doesn’t want to admit she’s looking forward to some fun.’

‘I don’t think she really knows what fun is yet, Pete.’

* * *

‘Loki and Thor are using Yule as a chance to mend some bridges between Asgard and Jotunheim,’ Steve explains at dinner that night, ‘but they said they’d come two days before Christmas so we can have a Yule feast together and they’ll stay until after New Year.’

‘You might want to reinforce the locks on the workshop doors Tony,’ Bruce grins at him from across the table.

‘Very good point,’ he agrees, ‘FRIDAY? Add it to my to-do list.’

‘Is this the one to actually do or the one to be ignored, boss?’

‘The one to actually do, obviously,’ he rolls his eyes at the snickers from around the table.

‘Strange said he’d be here for Christmas,’ Steve continues, and Tony can see the physical pain it causes his boyfriend to refrain from rolling his eyes, ‘but Wong has to stay at Kamar-Taj this year, he’ll probably head over for the Yule feast and stay through. Carol said she’d join us but wouldn’t be here until Christmas Eve. Scott has Cassie this year as her mom has to go somewhere for work, so they’ll both join us the day before Yule and stay through as well, Hope’s apparently organised a surprise for Hank and Janet to spend Christmas in a hotel somewhere so she’ll come with them.’

‘Clint and Laura are going to bring the kids over on Christmas Eve and then Laura will take them to her parents before New Year,’ Natasha adds.

‘And Clint will stay here for the drinks,’ Bucky grins.

‘Fury said he’d come for Christmas Day as well, then leave us and come back on New year. Hill’s spending it with family,’ she finishes.

‘Hold up,’ Tony puts his cutlery down on his plate and puts his hands up in front of him. ‘Did you just say _Nick Fury_ would be joining us for Christmas?’

‘You gone deaf with that last explosion?’ she counters.

‘Excuse you, I did not make anything explode. DUM-E did.’

‘Please can we not talk about explosions in the lab where I can hear?’ Steve begs. ‘I need to sleep at night.’

‘Yes Fury is joining us for Christmas,’ Natasha says. ‘And T’Challa and Shuri are going to come over for lunch and then stay through to the evening; he’s also going to see if Ororo would like to join us.’

‘Are we going to be able to feed everyone?’ Sam asks, then looks at Rhodes. ‘Please tell me Mama Rhodes is coming again.’

Rhodes laughs. ‘Unfortunately not, she’s going to spend it with my aunt this year and have a quiet one. I offered to join them but….well my aunt isn’t doing too good and I think Mama wants to spend it just the two of them.’

‘I am Groot.’

‘Yeah that is a lot of people,’ Rocket agrees. ‘How we going to fit everyone in?’

Tony grins at the raccoon. ‘Never underestimate our ability to find space, Rocket. Next important question: do we trust Bucky to go Christmas tree shopping this year?’

There’s a chorus of laughter, and they then have to explain the story of Bucky winning the Christmas tree to the Guardians. Talk then turns to preparations and they make the plan to get the Christmas trees tomorrow. Tony notices Quill looking a little overwhelmed at the other end of the table and makes a note to talk to Wanda about it; he suspects Star-Lord might find this month a little more challenging than he bargained for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hi everyone. I wanted to update mid week but work got a bit insane so I'm doing a double update this weekend instead. I'll probably do the same next weekend as well and then see how many more chapters I have left to write, I'm about halfway through writing at the moment.
> 
> Love always,  
> L x


	3. Trees and Decorations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam, Steve and Bucky take Quill to get the Christmas trees and when they return Wanda and Peter are leading the mission to decorate the facility.

‘I still have no idea what Tony was thinking when he agreed to sending _both_ of you along to get the Christmas trees,’ Sam grumbles as they park up at the place Rhodes had found for them last night.

‘He was probably thinking you’d need as much extra strength as possible seeing as we’re allowed to bring back several trees so we can decorate around the Yule table,’ Steve points out, ‘and I don’t know why you think me coming is as bad as Buck coming along. I didn’t exactly encourage him that time you know.’

‘You didn’t stop him either,’ he points out.

‘Why does everyone think it was so terrible that we ended up with a second tree anyway?’ Bucky demands. ‘We _liked_ that tree.’

‘Um…not wanting to interrupt or anything, but how many trees exactly do we need to take back with us?’ Quill interrupts the already familiar argument.

‘Well we need at least one for inside,’ Bucky answers, ‘then however many we find for outside.’

‘Tony’s words were along the lines of: we’d have to buy the equivalent of the Amazon rainforest in Christmas trees to stand a chance of denting his bank account, so we’re allowed to go crazy if we like,’ Steve sighs. ‘You ever been to cut down a tree before Quill?’

‘No I wasn’t old enough to swing the axe myself as a kid before I left, and Mom was always a bit worried I’d want to and get carried away if I went to get it so my grandfather always went to get ours,’ he answers.

‘Well,’ Sam unclips his seatbelt and opens his door, ‘we’ve all got axes this time and we’ve got a _lot_ of trees to cut down; Tony’s got FRIDAY on standby with drones to come pick up each tree as we cut it down so you’ve got to choose at _least_ one of them, Quill. No arguments.’

‘And that’s an order from the Captain as well,’ Bucky grins, jerking his thumb in Steve’s direction.

Sam pops thee trunk and hands the super soldiers an axe each, letting them start to walk towards the entrance before handing Quill his one and locking the car. ‘Hey, you alright man? I imagine this is a lot to take in.’

‘Yeah, I mean, why wouldn’t I be?’

Sam chuckles. ‘Don’t try and pull the wool over my eyes, Quill, I’m a trained councillor and I’m used to dealing with this group of craziness. You telling me you’re not finding it a bit overwhelming when it’s your first Christmas since being taken from Earth and since your mom died? Not to mention the fact that this team excels at being over enthusiastic and loud at the best of times.’

Quill lets out a sigh. ‘Alright yeah, it’s a lot to take in and process. It’s weird because I don’t have that many memories of Christmas as such, and I’m wondering if this is anything like what I used to do or not. Plus there’s kind of a bit of pressure on with the rest of the Guardians here and I’d be saying about how great Christmas is…’

‘Hey,’ Sam puts his hand on Quill’s shoulder, ‘you can’t control whether the others in your team enjoy it or not. The thing you should focus on is enjoying it yourself and creating some new memories, alright? We’ve all had a really difficult year, take some time to think about _you_ first.’ They walk for a few minutes in silence as they follow behind the two soldiers. ‘Hey, you thought about going to visit your mom’s grave at all? Might be a good opportunity. And we could keep the others busy if you wanted to go without them.’

He’s not sure if he’s crossed a line until Quill nods. ‘Yeah,’ his voice is a little choked, ‘yeah actually I think I’d really like that. I just…I don’t _know_ where she’s buried.’

‘Let me get Tony onto it,’ Sam offers, ‘he can be discreet when he wants to be I promise. Or Natasha.’

‘Thanks Sam,’ Quill smiles at him, and Sam decides to ignore the sheen of tears in his eyes, ‘really, man, thanks.’

‘No worries,’ he shrugs. ‘Now lets catch up to those two before Bucky decides to chop down a tree that isn’t actually for sale.’

* * *

‘I swear it’s never been this hard to find a tree for inside before,’ Bucky says as they finish chopping down the last of their outside trees; Steve had stopped them at five, pointing out they needed to save some for other people. Bucky had still insisted on one huge tree, though, saying it was now a tradition for them. Sam thinks Quill is slightly worried about how they’re going to decorate though.

‘Well we have been looking at the taller ones,’ Steve points out, ‘let’s head towards some of the smaller ones and see what they have down there.’

‘Sounds good, if we have to chop any more of these giant ones down my arms are going to fall off.’

‘Aww, bird brain’s getting tired,’ Bucky teases.

‘I’ll put this axe in you next if you aren’t careful,’ Sam warns him.

They continue chatting as they continue through the rows of trees, pointing out the odd one that looks promising before moving on once they decide it’s not actually what they want.

Sam realises Quill has fallen behind and turns around to find out where the space captain has gone. He sees him standing by a small tree, it’s rather sparse and is nothing like the ones they’ve been looking at before. In fact its more like the ones they’ve all simply walked past before.

‘You alright?’ he wanders back to stand next to him.

‘Yeah,’ Quill laughs, ‘sounds stupid but I couldn’t walk past this one. Something in the back of my mind…’

‘Reminds me of the ones we used to get back when I was a kid,’ Steve chuckles as he joins the two of them. ‘Sometimes we couldn’t afford one so my mom would bring in one of the potted plants and we’d just decorate that instead.’

‘Remember that one year we found a branch on the street that had fallen off a tree so we took that back to yours and used that as a tree?’ Bucky laughs, slinging an arm over the blond’s shoulders.

‘Oh yeah that was one of the worst years, we barely had the money to keep the house warm.’

‘It looks like the one my grandfather got us the last Christmas I was here,’ Quill’s tone is a little wistful.

‘We could do with one in the dining room this year,’ Bucky muses, ‘we’ve certainly got enough decorations, and it’d be nice to have one when we’re eating.’

‘I agree,’ Steve nods.

‘Right then,’ Sam brings the axe up and starts chopping at the base of it.

‘Wait! We can’t take this one, we’ve been looking at all those-’

‘Sure we can, Quill,’ Bucky cuts him off, ‘this one just brought back loads of memories for us, why wouldn’t we take it back with us? It’s not about having the best looking trees out there, it’s about having the ones that are right for us and this one right here? This is the right one for us in the dining room.’

‘Reminds me of the ones I had as a kid when money was tight,’ Sam adds, ‘my brother and I would fight over who got to hang the decorations up because there wasn’t as much room. Still say those trees always looked the best. We’d make extra ones out of paper to stick on to cover up the bare bits.’

‘Well we may have to do some of that with this one this year,’ Quill laughs, ‘because this baby’s a bit bare.’

‘But it’ll be a talking point,’ Steve points out, catching it as the tree starts to fall, ‘besides we could all do with a reminder that we weren’t always as well off as we are now, and some of us came from more humble beginnings.’

‘Except Tony,’ Sam laughs.

* * *

‘Wanda you need any help with the lights?’

She looks over her shoulder as Sam and Quill come over, her hands up as she finishes stringing the lights on the large tree they’d already set up. ‘No thanks, Sam, we’re good. We’re going to start on the ornaments soon so you might want to fetch your wings, and don’t let Pete convince you to take him up on his webs: Tony’s forbidden him from decorating the tall one saying he doesn’t want any broken trees or bones in the run up to Christmas.’

Sam laughs. ‘You got your rocket boots, Quill?’

‘Uh, always, why?’

‘Because you’re going to need them to get up to the top,’ she answers. ‘Think Rocket will be able to help as well?’

‘He’ll be able to but whether or not he agrees to is another questions,’ the captain replies.

‘I think Rhodey’s working on him now,’ she says as Sam runs off to fetch his wings. ‘Here take a look at what we need to put up, we need as many fliers as possible.’

‘Shame Captain Marvel isn’t here,’ Quill laughs.

‘Yeah she’d definitely be helpful, but I think we’ve got enough help so far,’ she gestures to where Tony is already hovering in his boots, a box of icicles in one hand. ‘You want to put the star on the top?’

‘Wait really?’

‘Sure why not? We’ve enough toppers to put on that most people will have a go. Just take it up the top and try not to knock Tony on the way up,’ she answers.

‘Right, no problem,’ he takes the star from her and powers up his boots, heading for the top of the tree where he carefully places the star at the top. She sees him and Tony exchange a few words and Quill laughs before heading down to take some of the icicles from the inventor. 

‘So we’ve got to put a load of things on this giant bush?’ Rocket says as she comes over with Rhodey and Sam.

‘Here you go,’ she hands him a small box of different coloured baubles, ‘we need a bit of colour up there. Loki normally adds some real ice to them all anyway, if there’s too many fake icicles it takes away from it.’

‘You some kind of stylist or something?’ Rocket demands.

‘Only at Christmas,’ Sam laughs, slinging an arm around her shoulders and pulling her into a one armed hug. ‘It’s the only time of the year she and Pete are in charge. The rest of the time they… _mostly_ follow orders.’

‘Where is the Spider-kid anyway?’ Rocket asks.

‘He’s commanding the troops inside,’ Wanda grins, ‘be thankful you’re out here with me.’

* * *

‘Wade what are you doing with that wreath?’

‘I think it’d make a perfect hat for Snowflake.’

‘Wade put the wreath on the damn door,’ Peter sighs. ‘Bucky stop trying to strangle Wade with the lights! You know that won’t work.’

‘He started it!’

‘How old are you?’ he groans, very thankful for the fact he can oversee all of this from the ceiling whilst hanging garlands. ‘Steve! Help me!’ he calls as the soldier walks in, another box in his arms.

‘At this point I don’t think they’re any more likely to listen to me than they are you, Pete, but I’ll try,’ Steve sighs.

‘I am Groot.’

‘Groot I’m really sorry buddy I’m trying to understand you but it’s taking some time, think you can give me some more actions to explain?’ Peter looks down at the tree.

‘I am Groot,’ he repeats, this time with additional branch made scenes.

‘Oh yeah great idea! Definitely put those up around the windows. You sure you don’t mind?’

‘I am Groot.’

‘Thanks buddy,’ he drops down as he finishes hanging the last part of his garland and makes his way over to the box Steve brought in, Nebula joins him.

‘Is all this…excitement usually necessary?’ she asks as he opens the box.

‘Necessary? No. Normal? Absolutely,’ he answers. ‘Oh hey this is the stuff for the inside tree! I think the rooms and hallways are basically done. Want to get started? I think we need to set some of it aside for the dining room tree, though we normally have too many decorations for the tree anyway so there should be plenty.’

‘Putting small decorations on a tree?’ Nebula clarifies.

‘Yep. There’s all sorts in here. We’ve even got some Avengers ones in here somewhere.’

‘Why do you put decorations on a tree you have cut down from the forest and will then have to destroy once the celebration is over?’ she asks, and for once Peter doesn’t detect hostility in her voice, only curiosity.

‘You know,’ he says as they take the box over to where the tree has been set up, ‘I don’t really know where that tradition came from. We can look it up later though if you like? For now why don’t you help me put these lights around the tree? We need to start at the bottom, where we’ll plug them into the socket, and then make our way up the tree, going round,’ he explains as he plugs them in. ‘Then we put all the other decorations on and then one person gets nominated to put the topper on, then we sit down with hot cocoa and have dinner and start on the Christmas movies.’

‘Why?’ she asks.

Peter smiles. ‘That was a tradition Wanda’s family always had: each year a different person gets to put the topper on the tree and signal the end of decorating and the start of the rest of the celebrations.’

‘None of the others had the same one?’

‘Nope,’ he shakes his head as they work on the lights. ‘None of the rest of us had the mistletoe tradition that Rhodes’ family does either, we just started combining everyone’s traditions.’

‘Why do you not just follow one set? Why combine them all?’ she asks.

‘Well…each family has different traditions they do, and since we all became each other’s family we just decided to combine ones from everyone. It’s actually quite fun because it means we’ve all been doing things we hadn’t done before. And we’ve been making new ones as well: like Bucky winning that huge tree the first year that now means we always get a huge one to put outside. And last year we did Yule and now we’re going to start doing a Yule feast each year, just later than the usual date.’

Gradually as the others finish their jobs they come and join them at the tree to put up some decorations, and the others come in from outside to help. Eventually there’s only the angel to go on the top.

‘Here,’ Peter hands it to Nebula, ‘why don’t you do it this year?’

She looks so unsure as she carefully takes the topper from his hands and makes her way to the set of small step ladders they’d set up next to the tree; she climbs them and pauses at the top before gently placing the angel on the top.

‘Alright,’ Wanda calls, ‘who wants hot cocoa?’

There’s a chorus of cheers and agreements and, as Wade puts his arm around his waist and starts directing him to the kitchenette, Peter keeps his eye on Nebula. She’s now standing at the bottom of the steps and looking at the newly decorated tree with a pensive look on her face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hi everyone! I hope you're enjoying the story so far, do let me know if you have any requests for the rest of the story. The first part is more the team introducing the Guardians to the different traditions, and then we'll have more of the relationship side of things from the Yule feast onwards.
> 
> Thank you so much for the comments so far. Hope you all continue to enjoy!
> 
> Love always,  
> L x


	4. Food Fight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wanda tries to lead a session of Christmas cookie baking, when things escalate

‘This is really quite delicious.’

‘Mantis stop eating the dough or there’ll be none left for Christmas!’ Wanda laughs.

‘But isn’t this food?’ she asks.

‘Yes, but we’re making them to eat later not straight away. We have to bake these first,’ Wanda tells her.

‘I do not understand these strange shapes. Why not just make them into circles so they are easy to carry?’ Drax asks.

‘Because it’s more fun if they’re different shapes,’ she replies.

‘How can a shape be fun?’ Drax asks.

‘I see you’ve got some new recruits to help with the baking,’ a new voice says from behind her.

‘Strange!’ she greets the newcomer with a smile. ‘Care to join us?’

‘I’m happy being the taster thank you,’ he replies and sits on a bench at the counter next to Bucky. ‘Are you not helping?’

‘I got banned from helping.’

‘How?’ the doctor asks.

‘Because he started throwing dough in an attempt to start a food fight,’ Sam answers from the other end of the counter where he’s still got a little bit of flour stuck to one eyebrow.

‘Somehow I am not surprised,’ Strange chuckles.

‘Yeah well considering I end up getting blamed for anything that ends up on the ceiling,’ Peter frowns at Bucky, ‘we put a stop to it so I wouldn’t have to clean it up.’

‘I don’t understand why you think food is a good projectile,’ Nebula adds. ‘It has no weight to it, there’s no chance of injury. What is the point in starting a fight with something that won’t help you win?’

‘As I have already explained,’ Bucky rolls his eyes, ‘the point of a food fight is not to hurt people it’s just to get messy. The messiest person loses and the cleanest person wins.’

‘I didn’t think there were any winners and losers in food fights,’ Sam argues, ‘unless you’re the cleaning staff of course.’

‘Sounds like you weren’t doing it right.’

‘Sounds like you forgot the part where they’re just supposed to be for _fun_ ,’ Sam counters.

Bucky shrugs. ‘Well we never had one as kids because you couldn’t afford to waste food. Was only ever something you saw in the movies, so you just used to talk with your mates about growing up and being rich enough to afford enough food that you _could_ have a fight with it. Then you’d argue about what the rules would be.’

‘Wait you never actually _had_ a food fight before?’ Peter asks.

Bucky shakes his head. ‘Nope, ne- HEY!’ he wipes the dough from his face and scowls at the teenager. ‘What was that for?’

‘You said you’d never had a food fight!’

‘You told me we couldn’t!’

‘Sometimes I swear he’s less mature than Peter despite being like four times his age,’ Wanda sighs. Strange chuckles.

‘Drax! What was that for?’ Peter demands as Drax empties a bowl of flour over his head. ‘Now I look like a ghost,’ he sneezes.

‘You said this was a food fight and we were to fight with food,’ Drax states.

‘Guys can we not throw the baking ingredients around- oh right that does it Bucky it’s on!’ Sam shouts, picking up an egg and throwing it at the super soldier. ‘Oops sorry Doc.’

Strange wipes the yoke from his face and frowns at Sam. ‘Never,’ he says, ‘take on a Master of the Mystic Arts in a food fight.’ His hand appears in front of Sam through a portal, picking up three eggs, then he proceeds to pelt Sam with them from different angles through different portals as the poor man does his best to dodge them.

‘Hey I said I was sorry!’

‘What should we do?’ Mantis looks between Wanda and her carefully cut out cookie shapes.

Wanda sighs and uses her powers to bring Mantis’ cookies over to join hers and puts them safely out of harms way in a cupboard. ‘Now that we know the cookies are safe? There’s a saying on Earth: if you can’t beat them, join them.’

‘What if we know we can beat them?’ Nebula asks as she ducks a bit of dough and passes her own cookies to Wanda.

As Wanda puts those with the rest she grins at her. ‘Then we definitely join in.’

* * *

‘I can’t believe you had a food fight without me, Baby Boy. I mean, really it hurts, cuts me real deep. How could you even think to start something like that without me? I honestly thought it was you and me to the end, you know? And then you go and do something like this? I’m not sure we can ever move on from this. It’s just-’

‘Oh my god shut up!’ Sam throws a cleaning cloth at the merc’s face, much to Peter’s relief.

‘Wade why don’t you help us instead of complaining?’ he suggests.

‘Nope, uh uh, no way, you got yourselves into this and I’m just here to supervise.’

‘No you’re here to stare at my ass,’ Peter mutters to himself, glad he’s on the ceiling cleaning up the globs of dough so no one can hear him.

‘Loki says we should be grateful Thor wasn’t around to join in,’ Bucky says from where he’s on the floor behind the counter, ‘and that we shouldn’t mention it around him or there won’t be food left in the entire state.’

‘Yeah? Well why don’t you ask him through that weird mental link thing you got going on if he can come down and use some of his magic to help us get this done quicker?’ Sam demands.

‘He says he’s too busy in a meeting with his council.’

‘If he’s so busy why does he have time to warn you about mentioning food fights around Thor?’ Peter asks.

‘Apparently the current speaker is boring.’

‘Well why don’t you tell him-’

‘I’m not a damn messenger pigeon tell him yourself!’ Bucky throws a sponge over the counter and it hits Sam on the back of the head.

‘Hey! Cut it out Bucky! And how come Wanda got off the cleaning duties?’

‘Because she’s helping with finishing off the cookies,’ Wade says as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world.

‘But she made most of this mess! And Strange,’ Sam grumbles.

‘Yeah but Stevie says since they don’t live here they don’t have to clean it up. Asshole,’ Bucky replies.

‘Who managed to get chocolate chips to stick to the ceiling?’ Peter demands.

‘I dunno,’ Bucky shrugs, ‘probably Wanda.’

‘No actually I think that was Nebula. She was throwing those things pretty damn hard,’ Sam answers.

‘That’s…equal parts scary and impressive,’ Wade says.

‘Or just plain annoying,’ Peter grumbles, going back to scrubbing the chocolate mush on the ceiling. ‘I didn’t even realise we _had_ chocolate chips for the cookies.’

‘We didn’t,’ Sam tells him, ‘Wanda got extra ammunition for the girls out of the cupboards.’

‘Dammit Wanda!’

* * *

‘Getting ready for Christmas should _not_ make you ache,’ Sam grumbles as he sinks into the couch with a sigh.

‘Getting ready for Christmas should not create so much mess,’ Steve counters.

‘Disagree!’ a chorus of voices respond, making the blond pout and everyone laugh.

‘I will agree there shouldn’t have been so much stuff on the ceiling though,’ Peter pipes up as he and Wanda bring out trays filled with steaming mugs of cocoa, complete with mini marshmallows melting in the top.

‘If you didn’t stay on the ceiling during food fights there wouldn’t have _needed_ to be food on the ceiling,’ Sam counters.

‘But Natasha taught me we should use every advantage we have during a fight,’ he argues, ‘I was just doing as I was taught.’

‘Is he trying to blame Nat for this?’ Rhodes laughs.

‘No!’ Peter’s eyes go comically wide. ‘No I’m just saying I was doing what I was taught by staying on the ceiling. So no one can accuse me of cheating.’

‘Don’t even think about saying that’s not where you were going,’ Natasha cuts off whatever Sam is about to say. ‘Because we all know you were.’

Sam shuts his mouth with an audible click and a scowl.

‘So what’s on the agenda for tomorrow?’ Rhodes asks.

‘Well we’ve got a couple of days where we need to get some actual work done,’ Tony laughs, ‘plus Pete needs to go to school at some point in December.’

‘Completely disagree!’ the teenager responds.

‘We’ve got the ice rink booked this weekend though after hours,’ he continues, ignoring the interruption. ‘So that way we don’t have to worry about any abilities getting out of hand and hurting members of the public. I think there’s supposed to be some carollers singing in Central Park afterwards so I thought we’d go and tick that tradition off the list while we’re there.’

‘Then we’ve just got some Yule Feast preparations to do before the others arrive,’ Bruce adds, ‘and we can focus on celebrating.’

‘There are a lot of traditions,’ Mantis comments.

‘I am Groot.’

‘Yes I agree it has been enjoyable so far,’ Drax nods. ‘I am looking forwards to experiencing more.’

‘See? Aren’t you glad I mentioned it now?’ Quill looks smug.

‘We said we’d enjoyed it so far,’ Rocket points out, ‘it’s got a long way to go yet before it’s the best thing ever.’

Quill sighs. ‘I just can’t catch a break can I?’

There’s a chorus of laughter as everyone settles back with their cocoa to watch another Christmas film.


	5. Ice Skating

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team introduce the Guardians to ice skating, followed by carollers. But the carols don't quite go according to plan.

‘I am Groot!’

‘Yeah I ain’t getting on that thing either,’ Rocket nods his agreement, looking at the ice rink as if it would open a portal to another dimension and swallow him.

‘I don’t go skating either,’ Rhodes laughs, ‘come on guys we get to sit in the bar and watch the others.’

‘And make fun when they fall over?’

‘Oh yes,’ Rhodes laughs, ‘and keep score of how many races they’ve won because they _never_ agree.’

‘Can I send out little bombs to make it more interesting?’ Tony hears Rocket ask as they walk away.

‘No,’ Rhodes’ tone is final for which Tony is eternally grateful. Although the raccoon is a lot of fun to have in the workshop, he does not look forwards to seeing what he can come up with to cause trouble for the team. He’s scary enough when it’s directed at their enemies.

He looks over to see Natasha helping Nebula to tie her skates. ‘Are you sure it is not difficult to balance on these? They seem to be designed to be difficult to walk on.’

‘To walk on, yes, but you don’t walk on them for long,’ the red head explains. ‘When you get onto the ice you’ll push your feet out to the side and glide along on them.’

‘That makes more sense,’ Nebula says, thanking Natasha as she stands up. The red head pulls the other woman to her feet and helps guide her over towards the entrance of the rink.

‘Plus if someone comes to attack you, you have two weapons attached to the bottom of your feet,’ she grins.

‘Practical,’ and Tony swears he sees a small smile on Nebula’s face. He sees Wanda helping Mantis in a similar way, the alien is not quite so steady on her feet as Nebula is.

‘I can’t remember ever having been ice skating before,’ Quill confesses to Sam and Steve, where the three of them are lacing their own boots. ‘I’m hoping its not too different to my rocket boots.’

‘The only person who can answer that,’ Sam laughs, ‘is Tony.’

‘Completely different,’ he answers, joining the conversation.

‘Damn it,’ Quill curses, finishing lacing his boots. ‘I’m more worried about who is going to be helping Drax though.’

‘Don’t you worry we’re putting the super soldiers on him,’ Sam laughs, ‘they’re the only ones who’ll be able to help if he falls over anyway. You’ve got me, and Tony’s got Bruce. Mainly because Hulk likes Tony so if Bruce Hulk’s out Tony’s safest.’

‘Right,’ that doesn’t seem to have helped Quill feel any better.

‘Just be glad you aren’t with those two,’ he points at Peter and Wade who are currently bickering over something to do with how races should be conducted on ice rinks.

‘Yeah,’ Quill now looks a little pale, ‘yeah I’m very glad. You know, maybe I should go join the others at the bar?’

‘Oh no,’ Sam laughs, standing up on his own skates and holding out a hand to Quill. ‘Come on, Star Lord, we’re going to get you skating.’

Tony tries not to laugh as he sees Bucky and Steve trying to help Drax walk to the ice rink, only for the large alien to fall over as soon as his feet hit the ice and pull _both_ soldiers down with him. Peter, ever helpful, hurries over to help all three back onto their feet, flipping over the top of the pile of bodies and still managing to land perfectly on the ice.

‘I really hope you aren’t expecting me to do that,’ Bruce says, looking a little uneasy as he watches the teenager.

‘Nah, I’m more hoping for a dog pile situation like the soldiers,’ he laughs in response.

‘Well I’m not quite _that_ bad,’ Bruce huffs, ‘but it might take me a couple of laps to find my balance again. I haven’t really been on ice since Hulk, I was always too worried I’d, you know, break it.’

‘Well when you said you’d be going ice skating,’ Strange’s voice comes from behind them, and they turn to see the wizard walking through a portal, ‘I didn’t expect it would be quite _this_ entertaining.’

‘Neither did we,’ Bruce laughs, ‘and I thought you said you couldn’t make it?’

‘Had a change of plans,’ he explains. ‘Mind if I join in?’

‘Hey the more the merrier,’ the scientist replies. ‘I just hope you aren’t as good as Peter.’

Strange laughs. ‘No I think I’ve been skating a grand total of five times in my life, none of which ended with me staying standing the whole time.’

‘Need some help with the laces?’ Tony offers, the answer to which is a very grateful smile.

Eventually they all manage to get onto the ice. Strange’s cloak is quite often the only thing that keeps him standing, and Bruce and Tony have a couple of near misses as Bruce finds his feet. Drax’s enthusiasm causes a couple more piled bodies, including crashing into Quill and Sam a couple of times. Eventually though he gets the hang of it and the super soldiers are able to leave him find his speed himself.

Peter, and even Wade, end up being pretty helpful and moving between all the new skaters and giving pointers and help where needed. Nebula takes to it like a duck to water, and she even goes to help Mantis.

As everyone’s confidence grows Natasha takes Wanda and Peter and heads to the centre and the three of them have some fun trying to adapt the ballet lessons to the ice. In fairness it may have gone better had Wade not kept swopping in and disrupting them, and even on one occasion challenging Nebula to a form of slalom race between the rest of the skaters.

‘Alright! Race time!’ Sam calls out eventually.

‘What if some of us prefer a more sedate pace?’ Strange argues.

‘Then you’re going to be eating my ice, doc,’ Wade cackles as he speeds past.

‘I know I shouldn’t rise to his childish antics…’

‘But you really want to have _him_ eat _your_ ice right?’ Tony laughs.

‘It’s on,’ the doctor nods in agreement.

* * *

‘Drax you didn’t have to knock me so hard did you? My arm’s _still_ aching,’ Quill groans as they make their way through Central Park to where Tony had seen the carollers would be.

‘You should not have tried to get in my way,’ comes the reply.

‘Dude I was in _front_ of you, in my lane, and you decided to come across _behind_ me.’

‘Oh look roasted chestnuts!’ Wanda interrupts, with an eyeroll at Tony who just grins back.

‘Let’s grab some for while we’re watching the carollers,’ he tells everyone, heading to the stand and starting the long process of buying enough for everyone. Steve comes to wait next to him and help distribute.

‘Well it’s certainly been an eventful Christmas so far,’ he laughs, one arm going around Tony’s waist.

‘No arguments from me,’ he laughs, leaning into the soldier’s side. ‘It’s fun though right?’

‘The best kind of eventful so far,’ Steve agrees. ‘Well except for the food fight.’

‘You’re just upset you didn’t get to join in,’ he grins, watching the blond out of the corner of his eye and knows he’s guessed right when Steve clears his throat.

‘Well I don’t think we should be having any more anyway. It’s a shocking waste of food.’

‘Spoilsport,’ he teases as they get the last bag and follow the others through the park again.

‘Hey, what’s happening do you think?’ Steve gestures in front of them where there seems to be a few people having a bit of a heated disagreement. ‘Isn’t that where the carollers are supposed to be?’

‘Oh great, I knew everything was going too smoothly,’ Tony sighs. They overtake the others and reach the people just as the conversation seems to come to an end. ‘Excuse me? Is this where the carollers are going to be?’

‘It’s supposed to be,’ the woman who is left there says, sounding rather harassed, ‘but the performers double booked and they aren’t coming.’ She sighs and looks over at a group of elderly people all sitting in wheelchairs, some younger people stood around the edges of the group. ‘Sorry it’s just, we’re from a nursing home and we make this trip every year so the residents get to see some carols and get to see the city all lit up. It’s one of our traditions and now I’m just not entirely sure what to do.’

The others have come up behind them now, and Tony sees Wanda bend down and pick up a discarded carol sheet. ‘Do you always sing the same ones each year?’ she asks, looking at the paper in her hand.

‘Yes, we contact the performers ahead of time to find out which carols they’re singing so we can print the words for the residents to join in with if they want,’ she replies, ‘I just wish they’d told us the nights they wouldn’t be here. Sorry I better go speak to the other staff members.’

Tony barely registers the woman leaving, he’s worriedly watching Wanda who seems to be struggling in the situation. If he had to guess he’d say her powers were picking up on the disappointment from the gathered viewers.

‘We better get her out of here,’ he mutters to Steve, ‘before it gets too much for her.’

Steve nods. Before he can say anything to the rest of the group, something happens he never would have expected.

Wanda starts singing. ‘O come all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant, oh come ye, oh come ye to Bethlehem.’ The staff around the residents stop talking and everyone turns to look at her.

Then Quill goes to stand next to her, looking at the carol sheet and joining in. ‘Come and behold him, born the king of angels.’

Strange bends down to pick up another sheet and goes to stand with them. ‘O come let us adore him, o come let us adore him. O come let us adore him, Christ the Lord.’

As they start on the second verse, steadily more and more of the team go to join them, picking up discarded carol sheets along the way. When they start the last verse and Natasha starts singing the descant part he can’t help but look at her in surprise.

‘I did an assignment in a choir once,’ she shrugs in answer when the carol is over and the residents start clapping. He knows he really shouldn’t ask, but he’s definitely going to later tonight.

The rest of the Guardians who don’t know the songs go to stand with the residents, and Tony sees Mantis’ antennae glowing as she goes to each one, perhaps offering some comfort as they continue to make their way through the carols on the sheet.

And really, Tony muses, as they start on their third carol, he can’t think of a time when he was more proud of the team than he is right now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hi everyone. Sorry this is later than planned, I've been struggling to find time to write recently. So basically I'm planning to upload chunks at a time. I'm part way through the Yule chapters and as soon as they're finished I'll upload them, same with the Christmas ones and New Years. Sorry! Work and Christmas prep just caught up with me.  
> Thank you so much to everyone who has commented, I think I've replied to most of them but I'll sit down and catch up with any I've missed. 
> 
> Hope you're all keeping safe!   
> Love always,  
> L x


	6. Yule Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thor, Loki and Valkyrie arrive to begin the Yule celebrations; Peter finds out how Wade's been getting the Christmas sweaters sorted; and Bucky and Loki have a revealing conversation.

‘Friends! It is good to see you all again!’ Thor’s thundering voice rings out as he, Loki and Valkyrie arrive at the compound. The god rushes forward and brings Steve into an embrace that has Peter able to hear his bones crunching from where he stands.

‘Heads up Valkyrie!’ Sam shouts, a bottle of beer arcing over the top of their heads to be catch by the woman’s lightning reflexes. She twists the cap off and raises it in a toast before downing it in nearly one.

‘Still can’t get over how impressive that is,’ Bucky shakes his head.

‘I’ll go grab the others and get them to come up,’ Peter offers.

‘Where’s Wade been hiding recently? I swear I can never get him to go away when I want him to, and over the past few weeks he just disappears for hours at a time,’ the soldier asks him.

Peter shrugs. ‘He says he’s been sorting out Christmas presents. I’ve been trying not to get in the way if I’m honest.’

‘I’ll never understand how you put up with him,’ Bucky laughs, then goes to greet Thor.

‘I wonder the opposite,’ Peter mutters to himself as he heads towards the bedrooms; he waves through the door to Scott and Hope, helping Cassie to unpack, and tells them of the new arrivals.

‘We’ll head on up now,’ Scott tells him.

‘Wade?’ Peter knocks when he reaches their room. ‘Wade!’

‘Two seconds Baby Boy!’

‘Wade what _are_ you doing anyway? You can’t _still_ be sorting out Christmas presents at this stage?’ Peter huffs, pushing the door opening and then stopping in absolute shock.

‘Let’s be honest here Baby Boy, this is not the craziest thing you’ve walked in on me doing.’

‘Wade…are you…have you been knitting all those extra Christmas sweaters by yourself?’ Peter knows he’s still gaping like a fish, but the sight of the merc, curled up on the bed surrounded by wool and a half finished Ant-Man sweater on his lap is something he’s still trying to make sense of in his mind.

‘…No?’

‘When did you even learn how to knit? And how have you done all the others so far?’

‘Now look here, Pete, just because you caught me doing one of them doesn’t mean-’

‘Wade I will ask FRIDAY to confirm if I have to. Now answer the damn question.’

Wade sighs. ‘I’ve been doing it when you’ve all been busy and just powering through.’

‘But…hasn’t that hurt? That’s a lot of work isn’t it?’

Wade shrugs. ‘I don’t get cramp and I don’t get sore muscles, my healing takes care of that. So, yeah I’ve just been powering through and getting it done quicker than most people would.’

‘But when did you even learn how to knit in the first place?’

‘I went undercover in an old peoples home once.’

Peter just stares at him as Wade continues to knit away as they talk. ‘That really doesn’t answer the question.’

‘It was a female only old peoples home and-’

‘You know what? I don’t want to know. Don’t tell me anymore,’ Peter puts a hand up; then he frowns. ‘How many have you got left to do?’

‘Just got to finish Scott’s and then do Hope’s and I think I’m done.’

‘Right…well I’m just going to…go make an excuse for you or something so you can finish Scott’s. Then come upstairs before someone else comes looking for you alright? Bucky was getting suspicious.’

‘Will do,’ Wade pauses long enough to give him a salute and then returns to his knitting.

As Peter closes the door behind him, still shaking his head, and heads towards the common area again the absurdity of the situation catches up to him and he bursts out laughing.

_Well,_ he thinks as his laughter eases into chuckles, _at least it’s never dull with Wade around._

* * *

‘Dare I ask how Yule went?’ Bucky grins as Loki comes to stand next to him.

‘Surprisingly well,’ the trickster laughs, ‘though there were a few…’

‘Interesting moment?’ Bucky supplies.

‘Indeed,’ a small grin is all the answer he needs. ‘Though thankfully nothing that caused an issue. They were more entertaining than they were difficult.’

‘I did want to reach through and ask once or twice,’ he grins and taps his forehead, ‘but I didn’t want to distract you from what I know was an important milestone for you and Thor.’

Loki’s smile is warm. ‘I would not have minded the conversation. As pleased as I was to spend the time with Thor and to work to bring our kingdoms towards unity…’

‘But?’

He sighs. ‘But it was also exhausting. Balancing expectations, dealing with the reception from the Asgardians, trying to keep my humour high for Thor’s sake,’ he sighs again, ‘never have I felt the weight of being a leader as I did these past weeks.’

‘Do you think the Jotuns enjoyed it?’

‘I do, although I only really have Lorena’s word for that.’

Bucky laughs. ‘She’s loyal to you to a fault, but I can’t imagine she would hide something important from you just to spare your feelings. If she said they enjoyed it then I believe they did.’

‘She is,’ Loki’s voice is thoughtful.

‘You’ve considered asking her to be your consort haven’t you?’ At Loki’s surprised look Bucky lets out a laugh and taps his forehead again. ‘You don’t keep me out all the time you know. I’ve felt the odd worry creep through.’

He trickster rolls the now empty mug between his hands and looks down at it, Bucky lets him have the time he needs. ‘I haven’t spoken of this to Thor,’ he eventually says, ‘but I…I had been wondering about what to do to help bring stability to Jotunheim. There have been wonderful strides made already but…’

‘But if you were to take someone as consort who was not a Jotun, or who could not produce an heir, you would be leaving behind a succession crisis and that is not going to help keep things stable now,’ Bucky finishes quietly for him.

‘Indeed. I have many years left ahead of me, unless I should fall in battle, so it not something that needs immediate attention but it is something I have had to consider. Though part of me has been too nervous to give it much thought. I…I had always thought I would wed for affection, if not for love. It’s what Mother had always told us. Though she and Father were an arranged marriage and they grew to love each other.’

‘But not everyone is as lucky.’

‘No,’ Loki shakes his head with a sigh. ‘And I also need to consider that someone not of Asgard or of Jotunheim…they may not share my longevity. To allow myself to love someone only to lose them so quickly…’

Bucky reaches out and takes his hand in his, still looking out into the room where their friends were talking. ‘If you’re trying to tell me we aren’t going to go anywhere, Loki, I already knew that.’

Loki squeezes his hand. ‘I know, I just felt like one of us should say it so we didn’t have any maybes hanging over us.’ Bucky squeezes his hand in thanks. ‘You were the one who taught me how to let people in again you know. Even though it was all accidental with creating our mental link.’

‘You don’t…do you want to get rid of it?’ Bucky tries to keep his uneasiness from creeping through.

Loki turns to him in surprise. ‘No I do not. Do…do you?’

‘No,’ he smiles in relief. ‘I like having a friend I don’t have to explain everything to.’

‘Me too,’ the trickster returns the smile, ‘and it did come in useful this year did it not?’

Bucky grimaces at the memory. ‘Yes, though I hope we don’t have to do it again.’

They go to refill their mugs in a companionable silence. ‘You know,’ the trickster says as they take their places back against a wall, ‘I did wonder if you wouldn’t have had someone by the time we came back after Yule.’

Bucky frowns at him in confusion. ‘What do you mean?’

Loki gives him a half smile and looks at him out of the corner of his eye. ‘Some of your dream-memories came through the link.’

‘What dream-memories?’ he asks. ‘I’ve only been having strange…’

Loki turns to him in concern. ‘Bucky…those dreams are not dreams.’

‘Not-’

‘They’re memories. Repressed memories, or ones that were taken from you during your original captivity as the Winter Soldier, but still memories. They must have begun to return as your mind has continued to heal.’

Bucky’s mind blanks, unable to process this new information. They were memories? But that meant-

‘Bucky!’ Loki’s voice snaps him back to reality. He blinks at him a couple of times. ‘I’m sorry,’ the trickster’s voice is soft, ‘I thought you knew.’

Bucky just shakes his head. ‘How do you…how do you tell someone you remember that? After everything I’ve done. Everything I’ve done to _them_. How do you?’

‘Hush,’ Loki puts his mug down and places his hands on Bucky’s shoulders, letting waves of calm roll through the link. ‘I think, my Winter Warrior,’ he says after a few moments, ‘that they will appreciate the truth much more than offers of service for forgiveness. Besides,’ he smiles, ‘don’t you think they have _already_ forgiven you?’

Bucky knows Loki is partly right, but he’s also wondering something himself. _Were they made to forget too?_

Thor’s roar of greeting towards Strange brings their attention back to the room, and Bucky finds his gaze sweeping the room for one of the still missing members.


	7. Yule Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's some heart-to-hearts and everyone gets a video call with Mama Rhodes.

‘Hi,’ Peter looks down at the young girl tugging on his sleeve, ‘I’m Cassie, my Dad’s Ant-Man. Are you really Spider-Man?’

Peter laughs wondering how he seems to end up in the same situation every year. ‘Yeah that’s me.’

‘That’s awesome,’ she grins up at him. ‘When did you become a super-hero?’

‘Err…well I started when I got my powers, and I was about fifteen, so I guess then?’

‘I really want to be a superhero like my Daddy when I get older,’ she announces, ‘do you think I can become a superhero at fifteen like you? That isn’t too many years away.’

‘Err…yeah can I interrupt this conversation please?’ Scott hurries over. ‘Cassie your mom would _literally_ kill me if I let you become a superhero at fifteen. Or a superhero in general.’

‘But _Daddy_ ,’ Cassie pouts, ‘I want to have a group of super friends just like you and go and help people and save the world and-’

‘-and I won’t be able to do any more of that, Peanut, if your mother kills me,’ he rolls his eyes at Peter and starts to lead her away and distract her with a different topic of conversation.

‘Is it just me,’ Wade laughs, slinging an arm around his waist and turning him around, ‘or are you encouraging them to start young?’

‘I’m not encouraging anyone!’ he protests. ‘Unless by existing I’m encouraging them.’

Wade laughs and presses a kiss to his lips, still grumbling Peter tries to hide his smile with a frown. ‘Of course you encourage them by existing. Didn’t old Tin Can encourage _you_ just by being around before you even met him? You’re honestly going to stand there and tell me that when that spider first bit you and you realised you had these powers the first thing you didn’t think was “wow now I get to be like Iron Man”?’

Peter opens and closes his mouth a couple of times trying to think of a comeback. ‘That’s not the point,’ he says eventually. ‘I only thought about becoming a superhero _after_ I got my powers, now there’s kids like Cassie wanting to be one without even having powers.’

‘Like you didn’t dream of being a superhero before then.’

‘Yeah, key word being _dream_ , Wade, I didn’t try and plan to make it a reality,’ he sighs, looking down from Wade’s eyes to his chest, ‘what if I end up inadvertently getting kids hurt because they think they can become superheroes when they’re just kids too?’

‘Hey,’ Wade’s voice loses it’s teasing and turns soft as he puts a finger under his chin to make him look up again, ‘the only ones you seem to have encouraged so far are the ones who know who you are: kids whose _parents_ are on the team. It’s not just you encouraging them, Baby Boy, and they’ve got the best people around to keep an eye on them when they decide if they _do_ want to join or not.’

‘I guess…’

‘Don’t try and carry the weight of the world, Pete, it’ll kill you before any supervillain does.’ Peter opens his mouth to ask, noticing the look in Wade’s eyes, but the merc’s face suddenly has a grin and he’s moving the conversation. ‘Besides not _everything_ is about you, Baby Boy. _Honestly_ I thought Tin Can was bad, but you’ve obviously started surpassing him there and I’m not sure-’

‘Oh my god shut up!’ Peter laughs, shoving against Wade’s chest and letting the merc lead him over to where Quill and Thor are currently arm wrestling.

* * *

‘Wanda,’ Strange greets her with a warm smile, ‘you looked like you could do with a refill.’ He hands her a steaming mug of cocoa.

‘Thor hasn’t got near it yet has he? He was talking about ‘”improving” it earlier with something I’m not even going to attempt to pronounce,’ she asks as she takes it from him.

‘Not to my knowledge,’ Strange has a wry smile on his face, ‘but I can try mine first if you’d like to be safe.’

She laughs. ‘I think we’re safe. For one thing Valkyrie may not have told him this, but she was not happy with the thought of him “wasting” whatever that stuff is called. I think she swapped his bottle for something else.’

His smile turns a little more sad. ‘This is proving a difficult year for you isn’t it? Your powers are only making it worse too.’

She tries to cover her shock by taking a sip of the cocoa, and only succeeds in burning her mouth. ‘How did you know?’

‘You have been having a few downcast moments,’ he explains, ‘but you seem to get more of them around other people, especially when they are feeling troubled or disappointed.’ There’s a pause as she doesn’t respond and he doesn’t push for input from her. ‘May I ask: why do you feel the need to complete so many of everyone’s traditions this year?’

She frowns and sips on more of the, now cooler, cocoa to give herself time to find an answer. She hadn’t really thought about it herself. ‘I guess…when everything else is changing, the traditions that we have help us to remember the people that have…that aren’t here.’

He places a comforting hand on her shoulder. ‘Your powers are not helping are they? They’re tapping into the feelings others are having. Tony told me about what happened when the Guardians first arrived and how you latched onto Quill.’

‘I just…he was floundering and didn’t know what to do, and he was just desperate to find something _good_ again after losing Gamora and I just…’

‘You could relate to that with Vision,’ he finishes for her as she chokes off. ‘Despite being surrounded by people you consider family, there’s still a hole where that person once was that nothing can fill at the moment.’

She nods and blinks quickly to try and get rid of the tears that are building.

Strange adds, after a small pause. ‘Would you like to visit the Sanctum more over this year? We can work on training your powers so that you don’t have to cope with trying to process other people’s emotions as well as your own.’

‘Really?’ she blinks up at him in surprise.

Strange smiles again. ‘I may not be well versed in your particular brand of magic, but I’m sure we can find something in the tomes either at the Sanctum here, or at Kamar-Taj.’

‘Thank you,’ she can’t stop the relief from coming through in her voice. ‘Thank you, I feel…I feel like I’ll go mad if this carries on.’

‘As soon as the celebrations are over,’ Strange reassures her, ‘we’ll get started.’

* * *

‘I hope you’re all going to eating right this year, you know I don’t like relying on you and Tony looking after yourselves.’

Rhodes laughs. ‘Mama I promise we’ll be fine. We’re not looking after ourselves anyway the rest of the team is here, plus Laura and Clint are coming for Christmas so she’s going to be in charge of the kitchen.’

‘That does make me feel better,’ his mother laughs.

‘How’s Aunt Maisie getting on?’

Mama’s smile becomes a little sad. ‘We’re doing alright up here, she’s just having a ret now. When you get to be as old as we are you need a few more sit downs than you did before.’

Rhodes laughs to cover the lump in his throat. ‘Mama you _never_ sit down.’

Mama cackles. ‘That’s true, but I still know when to stop.’

‘Mama you are worse at stopping than _me_ ,’ Tony says coming up behind Rhodes and leaning into the camera view.

‘I don’t know about that, Tony,’ Mama cackles. ‘If I tried to pull as many all nighters as you do then I’d be dead by now.’

‘Yet he still never listens when we tell him the same thing,’ Steve laughs, coming up on Rhodes’ other shoulder. ‘How are you doing, Ma’am? Having a good Christmas so far?’

‘Oh you should know not to be so formal by now!’ Mama scolds him, making the other two laugh.

‘Is that Mama?’ Sam sticks his head through the door. ‘Hey Mama! Merry Christmas!’

‘Merry Christmas Sam,’ Mama greets him. ‘I hope these two are behaving themselves.’

‘Oh they never do,’ Sam laughs. ‘Hang on, everyone’ll kill me if I don’t tell you’re on the phone.’ His head disappears and then they hear him yelling down the corridor. ‘Hey! Guys! Mama Rhodes is on the phone!’

Rhodes laughs out loud as the sound of scraping chairs and numerous pounding feet echo from down the corridor as the whole team rush down the corridor. The sounds of fighting drift down to them, and suddenly Peter’s flushed face appears in the doorway.

‘I win!’ he crows, all but falling into the room. ‘Hey Mama!’

‘Hey Mama!’ ‘Hey Mama!’

‘Mama!’

There’s a chorus of greetings and Rhodes loves the fact his mother’s face lights up with happiness as the team of superheroes and their friends all rush in to talk to her and wish her Merry Christmas.

‘Well,’ she says when they all head out to let him finish his call in peace, ‘that was certainly unexpected.’

Rhodes laughs. ‘They love you just as much as I do, Mama. You know you’ll have no choice but to come back next year.’

‘Good I want to meet some of those new friends of yours. Two of them seem particularly lost.’

‘Quill and Nebula?’

Mama smiles at him proudly and nods. ‘Good, you’re learning. Took you long enough. Right well I better go check on Maisie. You all have a wonderful Christmas and I’ll speak to you all again on Christmas day.’

‘Love you, Mama.’

‘Love you too, James.’


	8. Yule Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Yule Feast begins; the team decide on a new Christmas Eve tradition; and Valkyrie bonds with Nebula

Finally, in Tony’s honest opinion as he collapses into his seat at the Yule table, they are able to start on the actual Yule Feast. They’d decided to miss out the formal dancing, and other parts of the celebration, and were just going to head back inside to start a party afterwards; Thor, Loki and Valkyrie had already done the other traditions before they arrived, and many of them would have been boring for Cassie.

‘How much food did they bring with them?’ he asks Steve, eyeing the plates of food that had been laid out on the giant wooden table. ‘Did they actually eat any of it the first time around?’

Steve laughs. ‘Apparently this was only a part of the leftovers. It’s supposed to keep them going for the next week so they can spend time with family and friends and not have to worry about work.’

‘So basically just like Christmas leftovers then?’ Tony grins. Steve just gives him a soft smile and leans in for a kiss. ‘What was that for?’ he asks when the blond pulls away.

Steve shrugs. ‘There’s been so much going on we’ve not really had a lot of time for us.’

‘True,’ he sighs, taking Steve’s hand in his, ‘how about after New Year once everyone’s gone we sneak away for a break somewhere for a few days? Just you and me. I’m sure these guys will survive without us.’

Steve’s smile turns warm. ‘That sounds like a good plan to me. After Wakanda, seeing what those stones were doing to you…I just want to make sure we make some time for _us_ as well as the team, Tony.’

‘Hey,’ he squeezes the soldier’s hand, ‘we will. I promise. How about this: every two months minimum we spend at least one night somewhere else. Even if it’s just a visit to the Cali house or something.’

This time Steve’s kiss is firmer, and he knows his soldier is fighting to keep his emotions under control; he gently runs his fingers through the hair at Steve’s nape.

‘You’re not getting rid of me that easily, Cap,’ he says as they break apart.

‘Oi! Lovebirds! Pass the bread rolls,’ Sam shouts at them, causing Steve to flip him the finger and the whole table to erupt in laughter.

Tony just laughs along with the rest of them, and pitches a roll at Sam’s head which the other man catches with a grin. No one comments on the fact that their hands remain clasped on the table for the rest of the meal.

* * *

‘You know,’ Valkyrie says as she chews her way through a sweet roll, ‘there is one thing I miss from the Yule celebrations.’

‘And what is that?’ Loki asks with a raised eyebrow.

‘Well I do miss the hunt,’ she admits, but at the hopeful look on Thor’s face she rolls her eyes. ‘No, Thor, that is not an invitation for you to start convincing everyone to do the hunt.’ Her king pouts, but she ignores him. ‘We also used to do tournaments afterwards, though, as a way for warriors to show how much they’d progressed through the year.’

‘A challenge! Excellent, when can we start?’ Drax roars in approval.

‘Well it might not be a bad idea,’ Strange muses, ‘for us to be able to practise fighting against other abilities. It would also help us to learn more about each other’s skill sets, and to test our own against strong fighters.’

‘Or,’ Peter pipes up, ‘we could do all that _and_ work on our team work by playing Capture the Flag.’

Quill’s face lights up. ‘I remember playing that as a kid! That was awesome!’

‘What is Capture the Flag?’ Mantis asks.

Quill and Peter explain the rules behind the game.

‘This sounds like an excellent alternative to combine both the hunt and the tournaments,’ Loki smiles. ‘I say we do it.’

‘Let’s do it Christmas Eve, start a new tradition,’ Natasha smiles, ‘Clint’ll be arriving Christmas Eve so he can join in, and so will Carol.’

The news travels around the table like wildfire and soon it’s the main topic of conversation for the feast.

‘Do you think we should split normal pairs up?’

‘What like putting Nat and Clint against each other? I’m not sure anyone would survive that!’

‘Do you think we should put Thor and Loki on the same team? We might lose the facility otherwise.’

‘I’m on Nebula’s team!’

‘I think you may have started something truly terrifying,’ Loki laughs.

‘Hmm well it was this or a drinking game, and I didn’t think anyone would appreciate a drinking game with a child around,’ Valkyrie shrugs.

‘Start it at New Year,’ Natasha suggests with a glint in her eyes. ‘I’d love to see Fury get drunk.’

Loki laughs so hard he starts to choke on the mead he was drinking. Thor gives his brother a few helpful slaps on the back, which only serves to send him flying forward into the table and nearly face planting his plate of food. The two brothers begin squabbling over Thor’s attempted life saving manoeuvre, and Valkyrie just shakes her head in fond exasperation.

‘They grow on you eventually,’ she explains to Nebula, who is watching the interaction with interest, ‘but it drives you insane along the way.’

‘It makes me wonder if Gamora and I would have been like that had she still been here,’ the blue skinned woman admits.

Valkyrie sobers up, casting a quick glance around the table to make sure no one is listening to them she then lowers her voice. ‘Tell me truthfully: how difficult are you finding this without her here?’

Nebula shoots her a glare and she thinks the other woman is not going to answer her question and instead stab her with her fork. Thankfully she just blinks and then turns thoughtful. ‘I had not…I had not really thought about it. I suppose that _is_ what I am finding difficult: not having her here and being surrounded by reminders of family and friends.’

‘Are the other Guardians not your friends?’

Nebula shakes her head. ‘We have a complicated history. I think they only allowed me to stay with them because of her. Without her here I feel like I am looking in from the outside. I don’t have a place without her there.’

Valkyrie puts her hand on Nebula’s shoulder. ‘I am the last of the Valkyries; all the others were killed by Hela during our battle to contain her. My lover was killed protecting me. Ever since then I wandered around the galaxy, not wanting to put down roots anywhere because it was too painful to consider losing it all again. So I lost myself to drink and put up walls and pushed away the memories of any companionship I’d had with my battle-sisters and my lover.’

‘What made you change your mind?’

Valkyrie pauses. ‘I’m not really sure what it was at first. Maybe it was Loki reminding me of the memories of facing Hela; maybe it was hearing she was free again and it was the rage that the one who had killed my lover was back; maybe I was just tired of being lonely. Whatever it was I decided to do something for someone other than me for the first time in centuries, decided I was going to be part of a team again.’

‘And?’

‘And I realised that what I’d been doing for centuries: shutting myself off from the world and my pain and my memories? That my lover would have hated that was how I’d repaid her sacrifice. She gave her life so I could live, not so I could slowly destroy myself.’

‘Gamora did not die for me.’

‘No,’ Valkyrie agrees, ‘but she wouldn’t be happy you’d shut yourself from everyone else she loved just because she wasn’t there. I think she would have wanted her friends and her family to bond together and help and support each other.’

‘How can you say this when you didn’t even know her?’ Nebula demands.

Valkyrie shrugs. ‘Would you have wanted her to shut herself off from everyone just because you weren’t there?’

Nebula pauses, then shakes her head. ‘No,’ she answers softly.

‘There you go then,’ Valkyrie raises her tankard. ‘To the ones we loved and lost.’

Nebula brings her tankard up to toast and the two women drink together in a quiet, companionable silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hi everyone! that's all the Yule chapters done, and I'm about halfway through the Christmas Eve ones. As soon as I've finished I'll post them too, hopefully I'll be able to get them all done for a Christmas Day posting but no promises.  
> I hope you're all getting ready for a good festive period, despite the challenges: we're going up in Tiers here in the UK so there's more restrictions unfortunately. Stay safe everyone!
> 
> Merry Christmas and God bless you all!  
> Love always,  
> L x


	9. Christmas Eve - Capture the Flag Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More of the team arrive at the facility, and the teams are picked for Capture the Flag

‘Merry Christmas everyone!’ Clint yells as he and his family enter the common area, the kids running up to give Natasha a hug with shouts of greeting.

‘Clint? Keep the noise down please,’ Tony rasps out, burying his head in Steve’s chest.

‘Woah, I don’t think I’ve seen Tony look this bad since the _first_ party we threw as a team,’ Clint laughs, coming to sit on Tony’s other side.

‘Clint, behave,’ Laura scolds him.

‘We celebrated Yule last night,’ Steve explains, his chest vibrating far too noisily for Tony’s comfort, ‘and we were up drinking quite…well early by the time we finished.’

‘Ah,’ Tony can picture Cint’s nod of understanding. ‘And our Tony decided to try and keep up with the gods?’

‘No,’ Tony rasps out, ‘Valkyrie gave me something to try. But she didn’t tell me she’d put it in my next _four_ drinks after that…’

There’s another voice laughing in the background. ‘Have you discovered it is inadvisable to trust Valkyrie with the bar, Tony?’ Loki asks.

‘Go away or do some weird magic mojo to help me,’ he grumbles.

‘As you wish,’ the trickster replies, and Tony thinks he hears him move towards the kitchenette.

‘Clint, if you value your life, do _not_ let Valkyrie make you a drink,’ he warns the archer.

‘Oh wow Tin Can you look worse than Pete, and I thought _he_ looked bad,’ Wade laughs.

‘Piss off,’ Tony mumbles into the chuckling chest beneath him, thankfully too low for any of the kids to hear. ‘Wait. Peter was drinking last night?’

‘I don’t think he meant to, but he had some of the drink Valkyrie made for me not realising what was in it.’

‘How are _you_ alright?’ Tony demands, opening bleary eyes to glare at the merc.

The scarred man simply grins and spreads his arms out. ‘Healing factor.’

‘I hate you,’ he goes back to hiding in Steve’s chest.

‘Here, Tony,’ Loki appears in front of him with a glass of something dark blue, ‘I’m taking some to Thor too.’

‘What happened to Thor?’ Clint asks.

Loki gives a long suffering sigh. ‘He decided to accept Valkyrie’s challenge to a drinking contest. There’s plenty on the stove if anyone else needs some.’

‘What is it?’ Clint asks, eyeing the glass as if it’s about to grow legs.

‘A tried and tested hangover cure,’ Loki explains.

Which really, Tony doesn’t need to know any more than that. He lifts the glass to his lips and gulps it down without a second thought. Surprisingly it’s got a nice taste, as opposed to what he was imagining. It slides down his throat easily and then pools in his stomach, a wonderful warm feeling spreading out slowly from his belly to his extremities; as it travels through his system he feels all tiredness and sickness being driven out. By the time Loki comes back he’s feeling the best he’s felt in months.

‘Loki! That stuff is incredible. I love you, please make me more!’

Everyone laughs at the complete change in the inventor. ‘Hey! I’m sat _right here_ ,’ Steve pouts.

‘You just tease me when I’m hungover. Loki makes me hangover cures. Take some lessons, Cap.’

‘Don’t worry, Steve, I’ve no intention of stealing your man. I’m not sure I’d be able to cope with him as well as you do,’ Loki reassures him with a smile.

‘I think I might take a glass to Pete,’ Wade laughs. ‘Sam and Bucky might need one too. And Quill come to think of it.’

‘I shall do the rounds,’ Loki sighs. ‘Just please tell me Strange didn’t get given any.’

‘In the meantime,’ Natasha says from her spot on her sofa surrounded by Clint’s children, ‘we better update you on the Capture the Flag.’

Clint’s eyes light up. ‘I’m listening.’

* * *

‘Right rules,’ Steve’s voice carries around the assembled group of superheroes as they prepare to start the game of Capture the Flag, ‘we’ll select two team captains who will then take turns to choose the rest of their teams. Generally speaking you can use your powers, however: Strange, no creating portals unless it’s within your line of sight.’

‘Agreed,’ Strange nods.

‘Carol? You can fly but no powering through like you did in Wakanda.’

‘Spoilsport,’ she grins.

‘Wanda? No using your powers on the actual flag itself, but you can on anything else.’

‘That’s fair,’ she smiles.

‘Groot? No using your vines to grab the flag if it’s more than twice your normal reach length away.’

‘I am Groot.’

‘Ok,’ Tony takes over. ‘Team leaders are: Wanda and Strange.’

‘What?’ Wanda blinks in surprise.

‘Well we thought it better to make sure both magic users were on different teams,’ Tony grins sheepishly. ‘I didn’t fancy ending up on the opposite team and having to take you both on.’ He takes a coin out and flips it, catching it and covering with his other hand. ‘Call it, Cap.’

‘Heads is Wanda, tails Strange.’

Tony pulls his hand away. ‘Tails! Strange chooses first.’

Strange looks over the gathered heroes as Tony and Steve make their way back to join the group. All of the kids are inside, being watched over by Laura and watching everything on the screens provided by FRIDAY. One flag has been set up in the grounds on the obstacle course, the other has been set up inside the facility. Bruce wasn’t given a choice on joining in, Tony pointing out he’d avoided far too many things in the past.

‘I’ll choose Peter,’ he says, and the teenager goes over to join him.

‘Natasha,’ Wanda calls.

‘Loki,’ Strange says, surprising everyone including the trickster.

‘Valkyrie.’

‘For once you’ve been chosen last of the three of you, Thor,’ Clint teases.

They continue along the line, with Strange’s team consisting of Peter, Loki, Clint, Tony, Bucky, Rocket, Nebula, Bruce, Thor, Scott and Drax. Wanda’s team made up of Natasha, Wade, Valkyrie, Steve, Sam, Carol, Quill, Rhodes, Hope, Mantis and Groot.

‘Alright everyone,’ Steve says again, ‘Wanda’s team will have the flag inside the facility; Strange’s team has the flag at the obstacle course. The first team to collect their opponent’s flag and return it to their base is the winner. If you are pinned for five seconds you have to return to the common area, where Laura and the kids are watching, and stay there for two minutes until you can rejoin your team by heading back to your base. FRIDAY will keep track and will notify everyone if you are cheating. The game begins five minutes after everyone arrives at their base. Any questions?’

‘Yeah: when can we get started?’ Valkyrie rolls her eyes.

‘Good luck everyone!’ Rhodes calls.

‘You’re going down doc,’ Wanda grins at Strange.

‘Whatever you say,’ Strange laughs, floating along behind his team to their base.

* * *

‘Do we have a plan?’ Bruce asks as they gather around the obstacle course flag.

‘Obtain glorious victory!’ Thor answers.

‘Any plan on _how_ to do that?’ Scott asks.

‘I take it we can’t blow them up right?’ Rocket asks.

‘No Rocket, we can’t,’ Scott sighs.

‘Why does the Spiderling not climb through the ventilation system to retrieve the flag whilst we distract them?’ Thor suggests.

‘Because they’ll see that coming a mile away,’ Tony adds.

‘And I can’t create a portal anywhere out of my line of sight to get him into a separate area,’ Strange adds. ‘Unless…’ he looks at Nebula, ‘unless we still go with that plan but we use someone they are _not_ expecting. Do you think you could climb through the ventilation system to get to their flag?’

‘I’d need directions,’ she answers.

‘I can give them to you,’ Peter offers. ‘And since I’ll be out front they won’t be expecting it. Especially if we have a group left here, and a smaller group going for a separate entrance.’

‘Divide their attention, this is a good plan,’ Drax agrees.

‘You’d be the next obvious choice after Peter,’ Strange tells Scott. ‘And you’ll be much better use here at the flag where you can provide hidden backup.’

‘Like it,’ Scott nods.

‘So we need three teams,’ Strange looks at the gathered group. ‘Loki do you think you could mask Nebula entering the facility?’

‘Of course,’ the trickster grins. ‘And I can multiply myself to create more confusion.’

‘Luckily everyone who can see through that trick is on our team,’ Tony laughs.

‘Ok,’ the doctor nods, ‘Scott, Rocket and Bruce I want you three here to guard the flag. Scott stay small where they can’t see you, Bruce I want you to be eyes next to the flag and guarding it. Rocket I want you hiding around the obstacle course ready to create mayhem when they arrive.’

‘You got it,’ the raccoon cackles, as Scott shrinks down and Bruce bends to pick him up so he can perch on his shoulder.

‘The larger group will be with me heading for the front of the facility and to create the biggest distraction,’ Strange continues, ‘Peter, Loki, Thor, Tony I want you all with me to help. Together we should be able to create plenty of mayhem and having Peter _and_ Loki at the front should confuse them to our tactic.’

‘Where’s the best place for me to enter?’ Nebula asks the teenager.

‘There’s an exit shaft on the south wall, just below where your room is, that’ll be the better one to use,’ he answers. ‘I’d normally go for one on the opposite side, just underneath my room so they’ll have that one covered. Head straight until you get to the third right, then you need the fourth left, slide down and then you need to grab the third exit above you. Climb up there and then you need the fourth grate underneath you. That’ll take you into the room with the flag.’

‘How does he remember all that?’ Clint shakes his head. ‘I still get turned around when I go to a floor I’m not used to.’

Peter shrugs. ‘Part of Nat’s training regime.’

Clint claps the teenager on the shoulder with an expression of mock-sympathy. ‘That explains it all.’

‘You got all that Nebula?’ Strange asks.

‘Yes,’ she replies. ‘If I need an alternative path I’ll ask through the communication lines.’

‘The rest of you,’ the doctor looks at Clint, Bucky and Drax,’ head to the back door and create havoc. If you can get to the flag brilliant, go for it. But remember your first priority is distraction.’

‘Let’s do this team!’ Scott’s voice rings through their comms as FRIDAY sounds the starting claxon.

‘Show time,’ Tony grins, letting his face plate fall into place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you had a lovely day yesterday. I'm posting the first of the Christmas Eve chapters because I want you to vote: which team should win Capture the Flag? I'll start writing the next chapter or two, and you guys let me know who you want to win: Wanda or Strange? 
> 
> Love always,  
> L x


	10. Christmas Eve - Capture the Flag Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wanda's team make a good start before an accident brings a quick change to the game

Quill looks out the window and gestures to Sam that it’s all clear. ‘Ready?’

‘Let’s move before anyone comes round,’ Sam nods.

Quill opens the window enough for Sam to be able to fly through, before following him out and the two of them speed across the air to the cover of the trees. Wanda’s plan had been very simple really: everyone on their team had strengths which lent themselves to outmanoeuvring their opponents, so they’d been given basically free reign to make their way towards the other team’s flag. Wanda has stayed with their flag, arguing she should be able to contain anyone who came to try and take it; Valkyrie, Wade and Rhodes are guarding the front door, and Carol the back door. Mantis had offered to patrol the corridors in case anyone managed to slip through; Natasha and Steve had gone in the opposite direction to them. No one was entirely sure where Hope had disappeared to.

‘Looks like Carol’s got some company,’ Sam points to the small group heading towards the back door.

‘She’ll be happy to get some of the action,’ Quill laughs, he’s become quite friendly with the dry-humoured powerhouse.

‘Just wish we could have got involved,’ the other man sighs.

‘Well there’s still plenty of time for that,’ he reassures him. ‘Come on let’s go see who they decided to leave on guard.’

‘My money’s on Tony, Loki and Drax: two with power and one with the tricks.’

‘Nah I reckon it’s Rocket with his traps, Clint with his arrows and Tony with his tech,’ Quill replies.

‘Think we’ll find out first or do you think Nat and Steve’ll beat us there?’

‘Hope will,’ Quill laughs. ‘If she’s not there already.’

* * * * * * * *

Rocket looks down from his perch in the trees, sighing and shaking his head. ‘Those two idiots? They make far too much noise to be stealthy. Why send them?’ He sighs again and begins climbing down, ready to reset the traps once the two idiots below him set them off.

‘And three,’ he counts softly, reaching a branch to cross to the other side of the path, ‘two,’ he scampers along it trying not to laugh, ‘one.’

Sam and Quill both let out shouts of surprise as their legs are taken out from under them and they end up dangling from the trees by their ankles.

‘Rocket!’ Quill roars. ‘Damn that trash panda.’

‘Now, now, Quill,’ Rocket sniggers as he makes his way into view, ‘no one likes a sore loser.’

‘We haven’t lost yet, Rocket,’ Quill growls at him. ‘Now let me down before I find a way to turn you into a cushion!’

‘Sorry Quill, my orders are to leave you there.’

‘No they aren’t, you’re supposed to let us go to the common area until our time is up and we can return,’ Sam protests as he turns in a circle.

‘Only if you get pinned,’ Rocket laughs, ‘which you ain’t yet. And you won’t be if you just stay in the trap. So you’re just going to hang there until this is all over.’

‘Strange is a rotten cheat!’ Quill protests.

‘Who said they was Strange’s orders?’

‘Then whose are they?’ Sam demands.

‘Mine,’ Rocket cackles, and then races off to see where else the other team was planning to attack from.

* * *

‘So while you leave us to do all of the hard work,’ a teasing voice that has Sam groaning in mortification says from behind them, ‘you’re just hanging around.’

‘Nat,’ Sam pleads, ‘don’t.’

‘Rocket?’ Steve chuckles, taking a knife from Natasha and going to free the two men.

‘Oh yeah, damn trash panda is getting turned into a hat by the time I’m done with him,’ Quill grumbles, then yelps as he falls to the ground, landing in a heap at Steve’s feet. ‘Don’t mind my head, it’s fine.’

Steve just laughs as he moves to cut Sam down. ‘Hey, Steve can you at least catch me before I-’ he’s cut off as he hits the ground next to Quill. ‘Never mind,’ he groans.

‘So Rocket has traps through the forest right?’ Natasha processes the information. ‘Hope’s in the ventilation system keeping an eye out for Peter or Scott. Think you two would be able to help us through the trees so we can miss the traps on the floor?’

‘They won’t be close to the flag,’ Steve muses, ‘or else his own team would risk getting caught in them. I bet he’s just done it within the trees.’

‘I said Clint and Tony would probably be there too,’ Quill adds.

‘I said it was probably Tony, Loki and Drax,’ Sam says as he takes Steve’s offered hand to pull him up.

‘Tony’s attacking the front,’ Steve shakes his head, ‘I heard his repulsors as we made our way around.’

‘Loki’s a good bet though,’ Natasha says. ‘He could mask the others there, and is a pretty heavy hitter himself.’

‘Clint’s going to be the eyes,’ Steve nods. ‘So we think that’s who we’re facing then?’

‘I can’t see them leaving more there, they’ll need a big enough force to get through to our flag,’ Quill agrees.

‘Right,’ Steve grins, ‘here’s what we’re going to do.’

* * *

‘Man this is boring,’ Scott sighs as he sits down next to Bruce’s elbow. ‘See anyone yet?’

‘Not a soul,’ Bruce replies, ‘though I can’t say I’m not relieved.’

‘Group games not your thing?’

‘Not when we’re close to things that can explode.’

‘Maybe next year we can have a team quiz?’

Bruce laughs. ‘As long as Tony isn’t quiz master. Although he’ll be just as bad as a contestant.’

‘Hey you seen Rocket recently?’

‘He’s putting up traps. I think it’s better to leave him to it,’ Bruce chuckles. ‘It’s almost as bad as having a furry uncontrollable-stage Tony.’

‘Almost?’

‘Rocket doesn’t manage to get me to join his schemes. Uncontrollable-stage Tony did.’

‘You know I kinda envy you guys all the stories you have,’ Scott admits.

Bruce looks down at him. ‘You should come round more often, Scott. You know we’re always happy to have you.’

‘Yeah I know…but I don’t want to get in the way.’

‘You wouldn’t-’

‘Are you two done being all mopey yet?’ Rocket asks, appearing next to them and taking a seat on Bruce’s other side before taking something out of his bag and starting to tinker with it.

‘We’re not being _mopey_ ,’ Scott argues.

‘Yeah, yeah, whatever,’ the raccoon looks back over the trees. ‘I caught Sam and Quill making their way here. Not seen anyone else yet though.’

‘What’s that?’ Bruce points at what Rocket is turning over in his paws.

‘Aw nothing much,’ the raccoon replies, ‘just a bomb I’ve been working on.’

‘A bomb?’ Scott jumps to his feet. ‘What the hell dude?’

‘Aww come on it’s perfectly safe, you only got to worry if I drop it.’

Before either of them can say anything else there’s a soft thump from behind them. ‘Hiya fellas,’ Natasha grins at them, ‘just thought I’d drop by.’

‘How did she-’ Rocket is cut off by Sam swooping back behind him and knocking the contraption out of his hands.

‘No way you’re letting one of your traps off on us this time,’ the man says.

‘Sam no!’ Scott shouts. It’s one of those moments where time seems to slow down, but you can’t move any faster. He watches as the metal contraption spins over and starts falling down as Steve appears on the tree line.

‘What-’ a blast cuts off the man’s question, sending all of them flying backwards.

The world is spinning so quickly Scott thinks it’s a miracle he isn’t sick. When he lands on the ground his suit automatically makes him normal size and he opens his helmet, taking gasping breaths as his chest protests from being winded where he landed. ‘Aww man that was not fun,’ he groans, trying to force himself not to be sick. ‘Hey guys? Everyone alright?’

‘What the hell was that?’ Natasha demands, sitting up from where she’s landed not that far from Scott.

‘Rocket was playing with a bomb,’ Scott sighs. ‘When he dropped it he obviously set it off.’

‘Why was he- you know what never mind. Where’s everyone else?’ she asks.

‘Guys? Hey where did you all get blasted to?’ Scott calls.

In answer there’s an ear splitting roar. He and Natasha look at each other.

‘Err…hey Widow? Please tell me that isn’t-’

‘Move!’ she shouts, diving into him and sending them both flying as a giant green blur flies over them and heads into the forest.

‘Nat? Scott?’ Steve races up behind where Hulk had appeared from. ‘You guys alright?’

‘Where’s Sam, Quill and Rocket?’ he asks.

‘We’re here,’ Quill groans, leaning against from of the wreckage of the assault course.

‘Bruce Hulked out from the shock of the blast,’ Sam coughs as he comes to stand with them. ‘He’s not going to be controlled is he?’

‘No,’ Natasha sounds worried and that genuinely scares Scott, ‘and if he goes towards the facility.’

‘Oh god the kids and Laura are there,’ Scott feels his face go white at Steve’s comment.

‘Cassie!’

‘Slow it down, Ant-Man,’ Steve tells him. ‘We need to get the team together and do Hulk containment until we can get him to turn back into Bruce. Think a lullaby would work?’ His last question is aimed at Natasha.

‘That hasn’t worked for a while, Steve, you know that,’ she sighs.

‘Aright, first things first: let’s tell everyone else what happened,’ Steve nods.

‘You mean the fact that Brucie went all not-Jolly Green and destroyed our assault course?’ Tony voice comes from behind them, and Scott turns to see the rest of them hurrying over, some quicker than others.

‘FRIDAY filled you in?’ Sam asks.

‘Complete with flashing warning lights and sirens,’ Valkyrie sighs. ‘You guys just couldn’t play nicely could you?’

‘Hey we were doing well!’ Rocket argues, ‘then Sam made me drop my bomb.’

‘Why were you playing with a bomb in the first place?’ she asks.

‘Questions for another time perhaps?’ Loki suggests. ‘Shouldn’t we focus on making sure the Hulk does not cause any damage? And making sure the children are safe?’

‘I can return the Hulk! We shall have a glorious contest and I will return him once I have bested him!’ Thor says, turning to face the forest.

‘Oh no you don’t!’ Loki goes to stand in front of his brother. ‘That will just make things worse! You can come with me and make sure that, should he manage to reach the facility, he does not accidentally hurt anyone left there.’

‘But-’

‘NOW!’ Loki forces his brother to turn and marches him towards the facility. ‘Inform us if there is anything else you need us to do.’

‘Ok then,’ Scott wonders if he’s hit his head harder than he thought during his flight. ‘So…what do we do now?’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hi everyone! Sorry this is taking longer to write than I first thought. We might have it carrying over into the New Year but I'll get it done ASAP. Thank you so much for all the lovely comments so far, I hope you continue to enjoy!  
> Hopefully I'll have another chapter to upload tomorrow. I'm literally uploading them as I finish writing now, which normally I hate doing.
> 
> Love always,  
> L x


	11. Christmas Eve - Hulk and Seek

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team try and find Hulk

Bucky is more aware of the person walking next to him than he is of where Hulk might be. And considering one is walking almost silently, and the other is a giant making more noise than Tony and Peter left unsupervised in the lab, that’s quite impressive.

‘Not like you to be so jumpy when on a hunt,’ they quip from next to him.

He sighs. Looks like they’re having this conversation now. He stops and lets them walk on a couple of paces. ‘I remember, Nat.’

Natasha turns, frowning in confusion. ‘What are you talking about?’

‘The Red Room,’ he sees her freeze, the mask slamming down on her mask quicker than he can blink, ‘I remember the Red Room. I remember training you. I remember-’

‘Stop,’ she cuts him off, voice hard.

‘I must have forgotten when they wiped me later on. Loki thinks the memories are coming back because my mind’s been healing more. There’s probably loads more I’m going to remember in the future, but…recently I’ve been remembering meeting you. For the first time.’

‘Stop it,’ she repeats, voice quavering a little.

‘Nat-’

‘Please, just stop. I don’t….I _can’t_ remember that time, it’s…it’s not who I am now. Nothing that happened there was good, except that it gave me the skills that makes me useful to the team.’

_Ouch._ ‘Nat-’

‘ _No_ , Barnes,’ she snaps, turning to look away from him, ‘we’ve got to find Hulk and then we can get back to celebrating Christmas. And we are _never-_ ’

He cuts her off by grabbing her and pinning her against a tree. ‘Thought I taught you never to turn your back on someone unless they were dead, _Natalia,’_ he growls into her ear.

‘Let go,’ she struggles but can’t break the grip of the metal hand gripping her.

‘Nat I need to know-’ he cuts off with a groan of pain as she knees him in the groin and he lets her go, sinking to his knees.

‘You taught me that,’ she snaps at him, stepping over him and continuing along the path.

‘Good to know you remembered something,’ he counters, blinking through the tears. ‘They took me away from you,’ he tells her, and sees her stop, ‘because they had to wipe me too much when I was with you. You made me too human.’

There’s a few moments of quiet, before her strained voice carries back to him. ‘Hurry up, Barnes, we need to find Hulk.’

_Well that could have gone better,_ he scolds himself. He feels Loki’s presence pushing at the corner of his mind, but ignores it and stumbles to his feet and follows Natasha. _How do you always manage to screw this up, Barnes?_

* * *

‘Why are we not just letting the monster tire himself out and return to normal by himself?’ Nebula questions as they walk through the forest.

‘No idea,’ Valkyrie sighs, ‘I don’t really know what all the fuss is about, to be honest. He’s never been that bad ever since I’ve known him.’

Nebula opens her mouth to speak again, but closes it with a frown and Valkyrie hears the commotion that has drawn her attention. ‘I think we may be about to find out why,’ she sighs and the two women start to run towards the noise.

It’s only as they clear the tree line that Valkyrie realises they’ve circled back around to the, now demolished, obstacle course. Hulk is standing in the middle of the wreckage, fighting against the magical ropes that Strange is using to try and stop his flailing, and the webs Peter is using to help him with. Unfortunately the teenagers webs, whilst strong enough to withstand most things, are unable to stand up to the raw strength of Hulk.

‘Come on Big Green,’ Tony’s hovering in front of him, and trying to dodge flying debris, ‘we never said you couldn’t join in, we just didn’t know if you’d want to come out or not.’

Hulk roars in response and nearly smacks Tony out of the air. ‘Hulk want flag!’

Peter shouts out in alarm as the web he’s holding gets flung by Hulk, sending him sailing through the air to land at their feet. ‘Ouch, that’s going to bruise.’

‘Hey! You giant blob of- don’t hit my when I’m insulting you!’ Wade shouts. ‘No one throws my Baby Boy and- STOP INTERRUPTING ME!’

Valkyrie tries to hold back her laughter, and only lets a snort of amusements escape before trying to get rid of the smile on her face as Peter frowns up at her. ‘Thanks. I just got rid of the last lot of bruises!’

Valkyrie laughs, grabbing hold of the youngster’s shoulder and dragging him up to his feet. ‘Oh stop whining. You guys are just handling him the wrong way.’

‘Well Tony already tried talking him down and got smacked with a log. So if you think you can do better be my guest,’ he grumbles.

She looks over at Nebula. ‘Think you can watch the kid while I sort out Hulk?’

‘Shouldn’t be too hard,’ there’s a ghost of a smile on her face as she replies.

Valkyrie salutes her then starts jogging over towards the commotion. ‘Hey Big Guy!’ she calls out, taking a running leap up and off one of the broken logs and onto Hulk’s back, hugging him round the neck, letting herself hang limply down his back.

‘Who there?’ Hulk roars.

‘Aww don’t tell me you’ve forgotten me already,’ she teases him. ‘What’s up Big Guy you wanted to join in the game?’

‘Hulk want flags!’ he roars in agreement.

‘Well you’ve already got one there,’ she tells him, watching as he sends Tony flying by swatting him with the flag as if he’s a giant bug. It’s only Rhodes managing to catch him that stops him ending the same way as Peter.

‘Hulk want other flag! Hulk win game!’

‘Oh is that all?’ she laughs. ‘Well how about you just give us a minute and we’ll get the other flag out here?’ She gives Tony a pointed look over Hulk’s shoulder which, thankfully, he seems to understand and talks into the comms.

‘Hulk win game!’

‘Sure you will Big Guy, but you got to get it off me first!’ she laughs, letting go and falling down his back, landing nimbly on her feet and racing off towards the facility where, a few moments later she sees Loki appear carrying the second flag. He teleports next to her, handing it over, before disappearing again with a quick ‘good luck’. One day she’s going to have to hear the story about why he’s so nervous around Hulk.

She turns to face the approach giant, holding the flag up and waving it at him. ‘Come on Big Guy! Come and get it!’

‘Valkyrie are you _insane_?’ Steve asks as he appears out of the tree line.

She’s too busy trying to stay ahead of Hulk, though, to answer him, as she steers him back towards the demolished obstacle course. ‘You’re too slow!’ she teases him.

‘Hulk get flag!’ he roars, jumping over her to land in front and then snatching the flag from her, nearly sending her sprawling from the force of it. ‘Hulk wins!’

‘Well done Big Guy,’ she laughs, patting him on the shoulder. ‘You did good.’

‘Hulk sleepy,’ he yawns and starts to shrink in size.

Tony hurries over to join them, his Iron Man suit falling away so he can shrug his jacket off and put it around his friend’s now shivering form. ‘Hey Brucie Bear.’

‘Tony? Oh god did I-?’

‘You did nothing,’ he reassures him, ‘now lets get you inside so you can sleep it off, yeah?’

‘Sounds good,’ Bruce agrees with a smile, letting the inventor pull him up and help him back towards the compound.

‘So,’ Wade says, breaking the silence, ‘I take it Hulk wins?’

To her surprise it’s Steve that laughs first. ‘Let’s go get everyone and get started on the mistletoe challenge shall we?’

‘Mistletoe!!!’ Wade shouts excitedly, before running off, grabbing Peter’s hand and dragging him towards the forest. ‘We’ll go get everyone Cap-e-tan!’

‘Couldn’t we have just used FRIDAY?’ Strange asks as he joins them.

‘Yes,’ Steve sighs, then heaves a laugh. ‘But they’ve had so little time to themselves recently I can’t blame Wade for wanting to drag Peter off for some one-on-one time. Come on, let’s get the cocoa heating ready for when everyone gets back.’


	12. Mistletoe Challenge - Christmas Eve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The mistletoe challenge starts, and there's a surprise in store for at least one member of the team

‘Alright everyone,’ Tony says, clapping his hands together and grinning at the gathered group, ‘the mistletoe challenge is about to start! Rules are: you have to catch as many people by surprise under the mistletoe as you can before this time tomorrow. The one who has managed to catch the most people wins.’

‘And what’s the prize?’ Clint asks.

‘First choice of partner in the snowball fight,’ Steve responds.

‘Nice. Alright we starting from now?’ the archer asks.

‘Yep. We’re not telling you where all the mistletoe is though, that’s part of the challenge. No one knows where _every_ bit of mistletoe is,’ Tony says, then looks pointedly at Wanda, ‘and no one is allowed to try and find out where they were all put.’

The girl just blinks innocently up at him and Loki can’t help but feel a little proud at her guileless mask. ‘I don’t know what you’re implying Tony.’

‘Course you don’t,’ the inventor scoffs.

As the group begins to break off into different groups, talking softly together or going to do last minute adjustments to gifts Loki settles back into his chair with a satisfied smirk on his face.

‘What are you looking so smug about?’ Sam asks, eyeing him suspiciously.

‘My dear, Falcon,’ he replies smoothly, ‘this challenge couldn’t be any simpler for one such as I.’

‘One such as you?’ the dark skinned man repeats back with a raised eyebrow.

Loki grins. ‘I am a Trickster after all. This should be simple.’

‘Whatever you say,’ he shakes his head and then moves away to join Rhodes at the breakfast bar, where the other man is pouring drinks.

_Simpler than getting Thor drunk at a feast,_ he chuckles to himself and begins to survey the surrounding group, already planning how he is going to catch each one.

* * *

He catches Wade first, as the mercenary is sneaking off to finish knitting the last of the Christmas sweaters, which Loki certainly hasn’t worked out and is keeping the knowledge to himself after a bribe from Peter at all.

Loki’s noticed the sprig of mistletoe above the exit to the common area and, when he sees the mercenary standing to leave, he makes his way around to meet him as he’s leaving.

‘A moment of your time, Wade?’ he says, just in time for the merc to pause exactly where he needs him.

‘What do you need?’

In answer Loki points upwards then, before the other man has chance to process what he’s looking at, he darts in and places a quick kiss on the mercenary’s lips. ‘I believe that puts me in the lead,’ he smirks before walking off.

‘Damn you!’ Wade laughs. ‘Just you wait until tomorrow when I’m in full challenge mode and you’ll regret this!’

‘Does anyone ever feel we’re far too competitive?’ Bruce asks from his spot on the sofa.

‘Yes,’ Laura sighs, ‘and unfortunately the kids are following your example.’

‘There’s nothing wrong with some friendly competition!’ Clint protests.

‘Some being the key word there, Clint,’ Laura sighs, ‘ _some,_ not constant.’

* * *

Nebula, Mantis and Drax are all caught in similar ways; though he makes a point to not always move when someone is looking to leave, as others have caught on to his strategy and have tried the same, or have looked to lie in wait for him. Besides he knows where a couple more of the sprigs have been hidden, and he has plans to catch some of the others there.

Rhodes and Sam he catches by the breakfast bar, where no one had realised one sprig had been hidden amongst the glasses rack above them.

He finishes his catches in the main room with Laura and the children as they leave for bed, even catching Cassie before he teleports away from the apple Clint launches at his head.

‘Now, now, Barton it’s only in the spirit of the challenge, I swear,’ he cackles, dodging another apple and unfortunately missing catching Scott as he leaves with Cassie.

‘If I’d known he was going to be this much of a menace I never would have suggested it,’ Tony groans from where he’s sat at the breakfast bar, purposefully not under the mistletoe but within reach of anyone who does find themselves underneath it.

‘Loki has always enjoyed a challenge,’ Thor chuckles, ‘and is usually the winner.’

‘Much to the chagrin of the Warriors Three,’ he chuckles.

‘I’d be willing to bet,’ Sam says with a grin at Tony, ‘that he manages to get everyone before the challenge is over.’

‘I’m not stupid enough to take that bet,’ Tony shakes his head.

‘I’ll take it,’ Valkyrie says, ‘he’s not coming anywhere near me. What’s the forfeit?’

‘The last barrel of the Asgardian mead,’ Thor suggests, ‘to be consumed only by the victor.’

‘Done,’ both of them shake hands.

‘Don’t let me down, Loki,’ Sam wags a finger at him.

‘And should I choose to lose on purpose?’ he asks.

‘I’m trusting to your competitive nature.’

Loki grins at him. ‘Wise man.’ He teleports to catch Hope as she leaves the common area.

‘Cheat!’ she laughs as she walks off.

‘No one said I couldn’t,’ he reminds them all.

* * *

Loki’s has two last intended victims for Christmas Eve. He catches his brother in the corridors as they head to their rooms, having already noticed the sprig in the corridor outside their rooms. The last one he needs to go to the workshop for.

He’d heard Tony mentioning to Steve earlier he had to finish something for Natasha’s present and knew the inventor would most likely be leaving the workshop now. The workshop where he knew for a fact that Steve had hung a sprig of mistletoe in order to catch the inventor under it numerous times over Christmas. Those two were so sickening. If Loki were soft he’d find it sweet. Which he most certainly does not.

He hears the hiss of the doors ahead of him and quickens his pace, hearing a yawn as Tony emerges from the workshop, blearily rubbing his eyes.

‘Hey Lokes, you alright?’ the inventor greets him; and Loki can’t believe his luck that Tony is leaning against the wall right under the mistletoe. Though, really, it was probably an intended move from Steve; he’d be willing to bet this is where Tony often leans when he comes out of the workshop, hence the soldier’s decision to hang it there.

‘Just wanted to check you weren’t going to work through the night and have an irate Captain to deal with tomorrow morning,’ he chuckles.

Tony laughs. ‘You’re a true friend.’

He can’t deny the warmth that blooms in his chest at those words. If he’s honest he’d been looking forward to this challenge for a number of reasons, this being one of them. Despite what many would have said about him before, he would never have tried to undermine any of the team’s romantic relationships once he arrived on Earth with the other Asgardians. Despite having found Tony attractive when they first faced each other in New York. And he’ll admit to having felt a twinge of disappointment to discover the dark haired inventor and blond haired Captain had finally acted on what he’d noticed back then.

After all he wouldn’t be a very good trickster if he couldn’t read people.

‘You sure you’re alright, Lokes?’

Loki blinks away his thoughts and nods with a smile. Once he sees Tony’s shoulders relax he darts forwards, gently cupping the inventor’s face in one hand and presses his lips to Tony’s as the inventor opens them on a gasp of surprise. He tries to hide the satisfied smile when he feels Tony’s hands clutch the front of his shirt, and the small pleased noise he makes before he pulls away.

‘Uh…please tell me there’s mistletoe,’ Tony’s voice is a little breathless.

Loki laughs and nods, pointing above them. ‘Sorry to disappoint you,’ he says, voice soft.

Tony laughs. ‘Well I’m glad you didn’t decide to do it in front of Steve. I mean, _shit_ , Lokes you can kiss. And it’s not like I’m short of experience here.’

‘Well,’ he chuckles, taking a step back from the dark haired man, ‘in another world, Tony, if Steve had been slower I would have made you mine.’ Just as Tony’s brain processes what he’s said, Loki turns and walks back along the corridor. ‘Goodnight, Tony, and Merry Christmas.’

‘Yeah…Merry Christmas, Loki,’ he hears as he disappears round the corner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hi everyone. Hope you're enjoying this chapters even though I'm speed writing them. I thought it might be interesting to do the mistletoe challenge from one person's point of view, rather than try and fit everyone in. I hope you like it so far.  
> Next chapter: Christmas Day in the mistletoe challenge. And then I think I'll skip to New Year's Eve. I was rather surprised at how disappointed people have been that Loki and Bucky won't be a pairing this story; out of curiosity would you prefer Bucky with Loki or Natasha? I have another option for Loki too, which you'll get to see in the next chapter.   
> Hope you all had a great new year!
> 
> Love always,  
> L x


	13. Mistletoe Challenge - Christmas Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki steps up his Mistletoe Challenge and ends up with only one person left to kiss

Loki is trying not to feel smug as he walks along the corridors of the facility, having left a slightly gaping Scott behind him. He’s still chuckling as he meets Wanda, coming out of her room.

‘Merry Christmas, young witch, did you sleep well?’

‘Merry Christmas, Loki,’ she replies with a small smile. ‘And better than other days at least. How about you?’ She frowns as she catches sight of Scott’s red face as he walks past. ‘You caught Scott didn’t you? How many others have you already ticked off your list this morning?’

He simply smiles and bows. ‘As always you are far too clever for me to fool.’ She scoffs and they begin walking towards the common area. ‘Scott is simply the latest in my list as you referred to. I have also found Groot and Rocket this morning and even Bruce.’

She pulls him to a stop, shock on her face. ‘You caught Bruce under the mistletoe and Hulk _didn’t_ come out?’

Loki gives her a wry smile. ‘We deemed it prudent to reach a truce and both caught the other at the same time. Though we’re not divulging that information to the group at large as we’re not sure if it would be classed as cheating.’

Wanda laughs, the sound light and bright for the first time in a while. ‘I won’t tell anyone.’

‘And I also found young Peter, though I imagine he would appreciate it if you didn’t comment on the way he turns bright red every time I grin at him.’

‘What did you _do_ to him?’ she’s breathless with laughter now.

He shrugs. ‘I may have been a little more…thorough than with many others. I couldn’t resist the opportunity to tease him in the future.’

‘ _Every_ time you grin at him?’

‘I’ll make a point to prove it to you. Although…perhaps I should not do so too much whilst Wade is around or I may find myself at risk of losing appendages.’

Wanda’s still laughing as they reach the common area. Loki take the opportunity to twirl her around under the mistletoe, dipping her back and then, as he pulls her up placing a soft kiss to her lips. Once she’s upright again, a slightly shocked look on her face, he tells her. ‘You are too fair to be so sorrowful, let your heart heal, little witch, you deserve to laugh more.’

He leaves her to think over his words as he joins the others, a couple of tears threatening to fall.

* * *

‘What the hell is going on?’ Loki looks up from his spot at Fury’s feet to answer the man’s question.

‘A spot of friendly competition, my dear Fury,’ he grins, climbing to his feet. ‘Although dear Carol was not impressed with my catching her unawares by the mistletoe at the glasses rack.’

‘So I blasted him across the room,’ Carol calls from the breakfast bar.

‘Can someone please explain what’s going on?’ Fury asks. Clint fills him in as he brings him a drink. ‘Please tell me I don’t have to take part,’ he eyes Loki with his one good eye.

‘Don’t worry, Nick you get a free pass since you’ve arrived halfway through,’ Tony laughs.

Loki takes the opportunity to drag Clint forwards once he gives Fury his drink so he’s under the mistletoe and plants a loud and messy kiss to his lips before he manages to land his punch.

‘Dammit Loki keep your damn mouth away from me!’ Clint roars after him.

‘Stop being a sore loser Clint,’ Natasha shakes her head, laughing at the archer roughly wiping at his mouth.

‘It’s not over yet I can still win!’ he counters.

‘Just come and open some presents,’ Steve sighs, ‘since we’re all here now.’

‘Yeah, I want to find out what these packages are,’ Quill says, poking at a pile of similar looking parcels. Loki hides his grin behind the mug that Wanda passes him, and winks at Peter. Who proceeds to turn bright red and look away, prompting a laugh from Wanda.

‘You weren’t kidding were you?’

‘Not at all,’ he answers as they go to join the others at the chairs around the tree.

‘I think we should start with those that Quill found,’ Natasha grins. Steve just laughs and hands them out; most of the team are looking excited, but the rest are confused.

‘Everyone got their present?’ Steve asks.

‘Can we open them yet?’ Peter’s virtually vibrating with excitement, a huge grin on his face.

‘Let Cap sit down, kid,’ Tony laughs. Once the blond has returned to his seat he gives everyone the go ahead to open their gifts.

‘What the hell is this?’ Rocket asks, holding up his sweater, a racoon face decorating the front surrounded by a variety of guns.

‘We all got knitted Christmas sweaters!’ Peter grins, pulling his Spider-Man one over his head. ‘They’re all personalised to us.’

‘Where did they come from?’ Thor asks, pulling his hammer and lightning decorated one over his head.

‘A knitting group from the city sent some in, and then Wade organised getting the other ones sorted,’ Natasha explains, her Black Widow one now in place.

‘Where _did_ you get the other ones from anyway?’ Sam asks him.

‘Err…that’s my secret and I shall take it to the grave with-’

‘He made them himself,’ Loki cuts across Wade.

Silence reigns after his statement. ‘I was _really_ hoping no one would find out about that,’ Wade sighs.

‘You _made_ them?’ Sam asks. ‘By yourself? _How?_ ’

‘Well I learned to knit for a mission once-’

‘Don’t ask,’ Peter sighs.

‘-and so I just worked on it when you guys were busy.’

‘I have so many questions’,’ Bucky shakes his head.

‘You seriously made this?’ Quill asks holding his up in front of him. ‘Dude that’s awesome!’

‘My revealing your secret, Wade,’ Loki says, standing up and pulling his own sweater on, ‘was merely so that proper gratitude can be expressed. Thank you for creating this. I believe these are supposed to “ugly” but I will admit to enjoying wearing mine.’

‘Huh, well thanks Loki,’ Wade chuckles, ‘and you’re welcome.’

‘The only thing I hate about these damn things,’ Quill’s muffled voice comes from inside his where he’s gotten stuck, ‘is getting them on!’

‘Can we leave him like that all day?’ Rocket asks.

Loki grins as he sees what’s hanging above Quill. ‘Certainly not if you want some peace and quiet at some point today. Here, Star Lord, allow me.’ He pulls the sweater down, planting a kiss on Quill’s lips as his flushed face emerges. ‘And might I suggest moving from under the mistletoe?’

‘Oh for the love of-!’ Quill curses as everyone else bursts out laughing. Loki resumes his seat and winks at Valkyrie.

‘For you information, dear Valkyrie, that leaves me five away from completing the challenge.’

‘One of them is me, Loki, and you are _not_ coming anywhere near me,’ she grins back.

* * *

Loki manages to catch Steve whilst they’re taking the food to the table for lunch, and can’t help but grin at the teasing the soldier receives for the shade of red he turns. Honestly this contest is doing wonders for his ego. By mutual agreement there’s a pause in the competition while they eat lunch, and Loki surprisingly finds himself seated near the children along with Strange.

‘Mr Loki, sir, is it really true you can do magic?’ Cassie asks him as Scott loads her plate up with food, lisping over some of the words with her missing front tooth.

‘It is indeed,’ he replies, ‘in fact I can do two brands of magic: Asgardian and Jotun. Though some would argue that the Jotun one is not really magic, and more abilities inherent to the race.’

‘Did you really turn Mr Thor into a frog?’ Cooper asks.

‘Of course not,’ he replies with a smirk in Thor’s direction. ‘I turned him into a toad.’

There’s an eruption of laughter from the children at this, causing Clint to eye him suspiciously before Laura hits him over the head with a wooden spoon and chastises him for being rude.

‘Can you teach me how to do that?’ Nathaniel asks.

‘I do not think your father would approve.’

‘Oh no Dad would approve,’ Lila grins, ‘but Mom wouldn’t.’

‘You can do magic as well can’t you Mr-sorry I mean Doctor Strange?’ Cooper asks.

‘I can,’ the other man replies, ‘but not the same kind of magic as Loki, and not the same as Wanda.’

‘I never realised there was so much magic in the world,’ Cassie says, her eyes wide. ‘Can you teach me any of it?’

‘Perhaps when you’re older,’ Strange says, catching Scott’s panicked expression over the top of the girl’s head, ‘and with _both_ your parents’ permission.’

‘Aww that’s no fun,’ she pouts.

‘What’s also not much fun,’ Loki warns her, ‘is the amount of studying you have to do in order to be able to use it. It will mean hard work if you want to become a magic user.’

‘But Wanda didn’t do loads of studying,’ Lila argues.

Wanda looks to Loki and Strange, eyes wide, for help. ‘That’s because Wanda’s magic,’ Loki jumps in, ‘is more like my Jotun abilities: something innate to her. Perhaps you will have your own innate abilities that you will discover in time. I didn’t discover my Jotun abilities for centuries.’

‘Was that because your dad was trying to stop you from becoming a murdering psycho?’ Nathaniel asks innocently. His sister turns to him horrified.

‘Why would you say something like that?’ she demands.

Nathaniel’s lip starts to quiver, obviously realising he’s said something wrong. ‘That’s what I heard Dad say to Mom one night when I couldn’t sleep and went downstairs.’ Out of the corner of his eye Loki sees Clint hide his head in hands and slowly sink down in his chair. Other members of the table have started to realise what’s happening and he realises this could quickly turn awkward. Wanda seems to be trying to find the best thing to say, and Thor is frowning at Clint and Loki’s wondering how long before Mjolnir will make an appearance.

‘In a way yes it was, Nathaniel,’ he turns to respond quietly to the boy, though still loud enough for others to hear. ‘I shan’t bore you with the details, but in summary: as a Jotun I was supposed to be a sworn enemy of Asgard. In order to try and ensure that I was treated the same as Thor, our father kept my true parentage a secret and raised us as brothers. I suppose he didn’t want me to feel like I was a prisoner as I was growing up, or have me want to turn on the rest of Asgard because I was different to them. Unfortunately, due to the circumstances I found out the truth, the thing he was trying to avoid ended up happening and when I… _left_ Asgard I found creatures who were not quite so concerned about taking the feelings of hurt and rejection I felt and twisting them to their own ends.’

‘Wasn’t your dad supposed to be the god of wisdom or something?’ Lila asks, curiosity apparently outweighing her awkwardness at the turn of the situation.

Loki laughs. ‘To mortals here on Midgard yes he was. But even the wisest cannot see all possible outcomes of their actions, for that you need the gift of foresight and even that comes with its own difficulties as its down to how you interpret your visions.’

‘Did you ever forgive him?’ she asks.

Loki feels his smile shrink but become no less real. ‘I did. He was my father. Regardless of the consequences of his actions I cannot argue that he did what he did with what he believed to be my best interests at heart.’

‘But…’ Lila trails off, frowning in confusion. ‘Didn’t he hurt you?’

Loki has to restrain himself from looking at Thor. ‘Yes he did. More so with actions he took after my first visit to Midgard. What I came to realise was that it was my rage and my hurt that had taken me to where I was and it could take me no further.’

‘So you just forgave him? Just like that?’

Loki laughs. ‘Oh no dear child. I am still working on forgiving him completely even now, something like that cannot just be forgiven in a moment’s decision, it takes time and work. But I was able to forgive him enough that, before he died, I could look on him as my father again.’ He smiles at the confused look on the girl’s face. ‘I am sure you will never be in the situation where you can fully understand my meaning, but perhaps one day you will come closer to. Now I suggest we change this topic of conversation to one more appropriate for Christmas Day. You were asking about magic: would you like to see some ice shapes?’

There’s a ring of agreement from the children and, as they steadily make their way through their meal, the children ask Loki for more and more elaborate ice shapes. Eventually Wanda and Strange each help him with shaping the ice and making the shapes come to life so that, by the end of the meal, there’s a veritable zoo running between plates and serving dishes.

* * *

Valkyrie nearly stabs him when he catches her on their return to the common area, and Natasha manages a slap before he darts out of reach. Strange shoves him through a portal which sends him to the other side of the compound when he catches him by the breakfast bar.

Now he only has one person left.


	14. Mistletoe Challenge - Finale

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki and Clint reach an accord; and the Mistletoe Challenge reaches its conclusion

‘Drink?’

Loki tries not to let the surprise show on his face as Clint, of all people, hands him a glass. ‘Should I be concerned?’ he teases.

To his event greater surprise, Clint looks a little ashamed as he shakes his head. ‘Avengers’ honour it’s safe.’

‘Just your word would have sufficed,’ he reassures him. They are standing near the doors to the balcony, Loki having been taking a small break from the pandemonium caused by so many enthusiastic people in one room. Honestly his brother can be worse than the children at times.

‘Can we…can we head outside for a minute?’ Clint gestures to the balcony and Loki nods, following the archer.

‘As much as I enjoy these celebrations,’ Loki admits once the door is closed behind them, ‘it’s nice to have a measure of peace.’

Clint chuckles. ‘Yeah I hear you. Sometimes it’s nice to just sit and enjoy the quiet at home when the kids have gone to bed. Listen, Loki, about what Nathaniel said at lunch-’

‘Peace, Barton, I do not expect an apology.’

‘I know, but the thing is,’ Clint pauses, running his glass between his hands as he leans on the balcony rail, then he sighs, hanging his head, ‘the thing is I realised that, well, perhaps I wasn’t being the most rational holding on to this hatred when you’d proven that you’re not the same person you were when you attacked New York.’

‘Neither am I not that person, though, and you of all people should recognise that.’

Clint nods. ‘Yeah I know, I got a look at you when you pulled the whole mind control thing just like you did with me. Taken me a long time to work out just what it is I learned though, and I very much doubt I even brushed the surface.’ They’re silent for a few minutes, though it’s not as tense as their interactions have been in the past. ‘Thing is, I realised I wasn’t exactly setting the best example to my kids, by not trying to move on. How can I expect them to forgive each other and us when we make mistakes if I can’t do the same for someone else?’

‘Hardly a sound comparison, considering what it is you went through.’

‘Yeah but _they_ don’t know that, Loki. I couldn’t tell them everything because I didn’t want to scare them. But then how can I tell them to do one thing and then not do it myself?’

‘When they are older you can explain to them what happened, and why there are some things that are harder to forgive than others. I can say one thing, Barton: you managed to keep your family a secret from me even when I had control of your mind. That in itself shows the lengths you will go to ensure their safety and happiness. I do not doubt you will always be able to find a way to resolve any issues they face.’

Clint looks at him, face open for the first time in their entire acquaintance. ‘Thanks, Loki.’

- _Do I need to make sure he’s being polite?-_ Bucky’s voice comes through their link.

- _Actually we’re doing fine, thank you for the vote of confidence-_

‘Hey you alright? You looked like you spaced out for a second.’

‘Apologies. One of my babysitters decided to check we were behaving ourselves,’ he taps his forehead.

Clint snorts. ‘You mean Bucky was making sure I wasn’t threatening you.’ The archer looks back inside, then sighs and turns back to him. ‘She’s not going to get back with him you know.’

‘I beg your pardon?’ even he’s struggling to keep up with this abrupt change in conversation.

‘Nat. I know you said to Bucky about trying with her again after you helped him realise his dreams weren’t actually dreams but memories.’

‘I don’t think I _want_ to know how you discovered that piece of information.’

Clint grins at him. ‘As Tony would say: “sneaky spy shit”.’ Then he sobers again. ‘She won’t go back to something with him, though, I know that for certain. She…’ he seems to struggle to find the right words, ‘she threatened his conditioning, and when they were separated they started to realise she wasn’t quite the true Black Widow they’d trained her to be.’

‘They doubted her loyalty.’

‘Exactly,’ Clint nods, ‘so she had to prove to them she was and…well she went a little overboard sometimes.’

‘Drakov’s daughter? The hospital fire?’ Loki feels a sinking feeling in his stomach, something like guilt.

‘And more besides. You were right when you told her in the Raft that her ledger is gushing blood, and she did it to try and prove to them that she was loyal.’

‘But she doesn’t blame Bucky for that. I know her well enough to know she wouldn’t blame someone else for her actions without _very_ good reason.’

‘No she doesn’t, she blames herself which is worse. The thing is, because they separated them and then she defected, when she next saw him they were on opposite sides.’

‘He didn’t recognise her.’

‘No. And he shot his target right through her. Hence the scar on her hip. When she realised he didn’t recognise her and he’d do that to her now…well she closed herself off, decided not to let anyone else get close.’

‘Until Bruce.’

‘Someone who avoids the fight as much as possible,’ Clint agrees with a sigh. ‘And look how well that turned out.’

‘She’s too practical to be with someone too sentimental,’ Loki agrees.

Clint barks a laugh. ‘Definitely not the word I’d use for Bruce, but ok.’

‘You say Bucky didn’t recognise her when he shot her. I wonder if he did though,’ he muses out loud.

‘How do you mean?’

‘He didn’t kill her.’

Clint’s quiet while he digests this information. ‘Maybe, but we’ll never know unless he gets those memories back. It doesn’t matter though, because she associates that relationship with too much heartbreak and blood to go back to it.’

‘A shame, they would do well together.’

‘But _you_ would do better,’ Clint argues, ‘you’re just scared of getting too attached when you know it’s most likely you’ll outlive him.’

‘There are many more things to consider rather than my own hurt, Barton, political as well as-’

‘Oh don’t give me that political bullshit. Yes he’ll live longer than a normal human, but he’s still going to die before it’ll make any difference to your political marriage. And I’m not saying _marry_ the guy, I’m saying take the plunge and have the relationship. Even if it’s only when you’re here on Earth. Even _your_ life is too short for that kind of crap.’

Loki sighs. ‘Something tells me you won’t be giving me much choice in the matter for this celebratory period.’

‘You’ve avoided catching him under the mistletoe because you’re scared that when you do you’re going to have to face all these things you’re avoiding. So you’re trying to encourage him to get back with Nat because you think they’d be happy together and it gives you a reason to _not_ be with him.’

With anyone else Loki would have argued, but he feels he owes Clint the truth in all things after their past. He wonders if the archer suspects this and it’s why he’s confronting him about it. ‘They have been _some_ of the considerations, yes.’

‘You do realise how much Tony would crucify you if I told him right?’

‘You’re threatening me with telling Tony? Do you really think we’re _five_?’

Clint just grins at him. ‘No, but I did get him to let me move one of the mistletoe sprigs to out here.’

‘What?’ Before he can process what Clint has said the archer points above his head, then darts in and presses a quick kiss to his lips. Loki barks out a laugh. ‘You tricked me, Barton, I’m impressed.’

‘Call me Clint,’ he says, ‘now I’m going to get Bucky out here so you can finish off your mistletoe challenge, and _maybe_ even consider that relationship I mentioned.’

‘Has Natasha told him of her thoughts and feelings?’

Clint pauses on his way back inside. ‘Good point, no not yet. She was going to talk to him between Christmas and New Year. Didn’t want to potentially cause a scene at Christmas.’

‘Then I shall wait until New Year.’

‘Fair,’ Clint nods. ‘Now stay there while I find a way to send him out.’

Loki just smiles and shakes his head fondly. Each visit it gets harder to leave this group of miscreants behind as their bonds strengthen.

* * *

‘Clint asked me to bring this out, apparently he’d promised refills but then remembered he had to go get something for Cooper,’ Bucky says, handing him a glass filled with what Loki suspects is Tony’s best whiskey that the archer always manages to get access to. No matter what steps the inventor takes.

‘Thank you. How goes the celebrations inside?’

‘Thor wanted to start a drinking contest, but Laura said they couldn’t do it with the kids around and Carol pointed out it would be rude to exclude the people who couldn’t make it today so they’ve decided to do it at New Year. I think even Fury is thinking of getting involved.’

‘Fury?’

‘Well…I say he’s thinking about, it’s more Carol’s teased him until he’s been backed into a corner. We need to keep her around she makes Fury more human.’

Loki laughs. ‘And she’s entertaining in her own right.’

Bucky grins then turns to head inside. ‘You coming?’

Loki nods and smiles. ‘One moment first?’

‘What do you need?’

He just points above Bucky’s head then steps closer. Where he’s darted in quickly with the others he instead give Bucky time to realise what is happening. ‘I saved the best until last,’ he says quietly against the soldier’s lips before pressing against them, one hand tangling in Bucky’s dark hair and the other going to his hip to pull him closer.

Bucky’s response is instantaneous, and his hands tighten on Loki’s waist, the metal ones digging in and he’s sure he’s going to have bruises there tomorrow. Loki surprises even himself by keeping the kiss gentle; where he’d left Peter and even Tony bright red with the passion he’d poured in, Bucky’s was different.

He pulls away before his thoughts become too dangerous and takes a small step back. Bucky clears his throat, eyes unsure though his face remains fairly blank. Tellingly he’s also keeping their mental link firmly closed, not that Loki can blame him since he’s doing the same.

‘We should head back in,’ the soldier says.

‘Indeed,’ Loki hopes his voice isn’t as strained as he thinks it is.

‘There you are!’ Sam shouts as they reenter. ‘We’re just calling an end to the mistletoe challenge. Please make me a happy man, Loki.’

‘I do apologise, Valkyrie, I’m afraid the last barrel of mead goes to the Falcon,’ Loki grins at her, trying not to notice the flash of hurt in the soldier’s eyes as he walks past. Perhaps leaving him to last had not been the most sensible idea.

‘It also means he gets first choice in partner for the snowball fight tomorrow,’ Steve reminds them over Sam’s cheers and Valkyrie’s complaints.

‘I should like, Captain, to concede my prize to another. Clint was the only one able to catch me unawares and since he managed to trick the god of trickery I think he deserves the prize instead,’ he replies.

‘Alright! Nat and I are wiping the floor with you all!’ the archer crows, flashing him a smile.

‘Shotgun Loki!’ Peter shouts.

‘Hey! What about me?’ Wade protests.

‘Dude we’re going into a _snowball_ fight, I want to be with the guy that can literally _make_ snowballs with his powers.’


	15. New Year

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New Year arrives, complete with 'Dance Off' and a drinking contest. And there's a surprising winner of both

‘Tony? You ready sweetheart?’

Tony grins at Steve as he shrugs his jacket on. ‘You know I was born ready.’

Steve sighs, but his smile gives away his actual lack of suffering. ‘Never mind, I’ll take that as a yes.’ He comes over and pulls him into a loose hold, letting their foreheads rest together.

‘What’s up Steve?’ he asks quietly, running his hands up and down the soldier’s arms in an effort to comfort him. ‘Your mind’s going so fast even _I_ can hear it.’

‘Just…I love having everyone together, but it’ll be nice to have a bit of peace and normality restored.’

_Maybe now is the time to mention that bright idea I had,_ Tony muses. ‘You know,’ he tries not to laugh as Steve opens one eye to look at him with a mixture of intrigue and trepidations, he knows he’s using his I’ve-been-plotting tone (as Peter had named it), ‘I did have an idea that I was going to run past you at some point.’

‘Should I be worried?’

Tony hits him lightly on the chest, earning himself a chuckle. ‘Rude.’

‘Sorry, sweetheart, what have you been planning?’

‘Well, not planning as such…it’s more of an idea I had that I wanted to run past you before talking to anyone else about. How does the idea of an “Avengers Retreat” sound?’

‘An Avengers’ Retreat?’

‘Yeah I was thinking of getting some land either upstate or maybe a state or two away and, I don’t know, maybe build a few buildings and things that’s just for the team to use. Make sure FRIDAY had it locked down so only we can get there, maybe as Strange to put in a couple of magic things as well, and then only members of the team can go there when they need a break. Get some smaller cabins built, maybe a bigger place for us all to go to. Then we could use it for summer vacations, have our Christmases there…then maybe Clint and Laura could join us for the whole thing, but still have their own building. Get where I’m going with this?’

‘Tony,’ Steve sighs out a laugh and presses a kiss to his cheek, ‘you’re a genius. It sounds perfect.’

‘Well, I mean this is me we’re talking about. Of _course_ I’m a genius.’

‘Let’s keep it a secret from the others though,’ Steve suggests, ‘we can surprise them with it.’

Tony grins at him. ‘ _After_ we go and try it out ourselves of course. Though, let’s make sure we don’t break any more beds, alright babe? I think we only _just_ managed to get away with no one finding out about the last one.’

* * *

‘If we have the drinking competition now half of us won’t be awake to see in the new year, completely defeating the point of the party,’ Peter says as Tony and Steve walk into the common area.

‘He makes a very sound argument,’ Strange points out, ‘why not start it after midnight? That way everyone can join in the rest of the party before. It’s only a few hours.’

‘Fine,’ Valkyrie huffs, ‘anyone who wants to take part in the drinking contest has to be sitting around that table,’ she points to one in the corner, ‘ten minutes after midnight or you don’t get counted.’

‘Oh this is going to be too easy,’ Wade sniggers.

‘You’re disqualified,’ Peter tells him.

‘What! Why?’

‘Because your healing means you _can’t_ get drunk, therefore you’d be cheating,’ the teenagers rolls his eyes at his boyfriend’s continued arguments.

‘T’Challa,’ Steve greets the king warmly, ‘good to see you, and sorry you couldn’t make it at Christmas.’

‘Captain,’ the king returns the Wakandan salute, then embraces each of them in turn, ‘Tony, it’s good to see you both again. We were starting to wonder where you had run off to.’

‘No,’ Shuri sniggers, ‘we knew _exactly_ where they’d run off to, you’re just being polite.’

‘Good to see you too, Shuri, now you are banned from my workshop for your stay,’ Tony grins at her.

‘That’s not fair I showed you mine!’

‘And if we let the two of you go to the one here,’ Ororo interrupts carrying some drinks for the three of them, ‘then we won’t see either of you for the rest of the _week_.’

Shuri and Tony exchange a grin and shrug in agreement. ‘Quill’s insisting on a dance off so Rhodey’s gone to sort out the music,’ she explains. ‘Will either of you two take part?’

Tony tries to control his laughter, and fails epically. ‘Oh yeah, Steve’s definitely going to be taking part.’

‘Very funny,’ the captain rolls his eyes. ‘I will be sitting firmly on the sidelines and I’ll volunteer to judge.’

‘Oh good,’ Quill says, joining the group, ‘I was just going to see if there were any judging volunteers. Strange has said he’ll judge too. Everyone else has to take part! Apart from Rhodes because he’s doing the music.’

‘I’m not sure this is such a good-’ whatever T’Challa is about to say is cut off by Shuri dragging him over the dance floor.

In the end, despite some interesting moments, like when Rocket tried to ‘dance’ from the lights and Wade insisted Peter had to do his dance to ‘Umbrella’ despite the teenager’s absolute confusion to why, the winner of the contest was Wanda. Everyone was surprised, except for Peter, who just shrugged when questioned and responded with ‘well she always beats me in our lessons’.

What it has done, though, is keep them up dancing which they haven’t really done before on New Year, and even Rhodey has let FRIDAY take over as DJ and joined everyone on the dance floor.

‘You know,’ Tony says, pulling Steve up to join him so he can dance with his boyfriend, ‘I think we need to make Bucky and Loki R-rated. If it wasn’t for the fact Pete’s with Wade, I’d be worried about them scarring him.’

‘He’s walked in on us enough times as well,’ Steve laughs, though Tony knows the exact moment he catches sight of them because he starts turning red. ‘On second thought, maybe we should have a word?’

‘If you take one step towards them I’m kicking you out of the bed for a week,’ Tony warns him. ‘It took _Clint_ to get Loki to back down from his bloody stupid political stand, so don’t you dare.’

‘Speaking of Peter, you sure you don’t want to have a word with _them_?’

‘I’m refusing to look because I am not going to spoil his evening.’

Steve chuckles. ‘I think Natasha’s doing a good enough job with her glare if the speed that Wade’s hands have gone back up is any indication.’

‘You know,’ Tony steps closer, linking his hands behind Steve’s neck, ‘we _really_ need to stop talking about everyone else when we actually get some _us_ time.’

‘Tony it’s nearly impossible for me to get you to _stop_ talking.’

‘That is categorically untrue,’ he protests, smirking a little as he adds, ‘you have some _very_ interesting ways of getting me to stop talking.’

‘Oh god that was the wrong time to come and ask a question,’ Wanda’s voice comes from behind him and Tony has to lean against Steve to stop from falling over laughing. ‘Tony _stop_ thinking!’

‘Sorry, sorry, hang on let me bring up the schematics for my new project.’

‘The scary thing is,’ Wanda tells Steve, ‘he _actually_ has those schematics up in his brain right now.’

‘I’m not surprised at all,’ Steve laughs.

‘So before that… _interesting_ interruption,’ she clears her throat, then pauses and frowns, ‘part of me _really_ wants to ask how you manage that,’ she says to Tony, ‘but I really don’t want to know the answer. _Anyway_ , where did you hide the champagne for drinking at midnight where you don’t think Clint is able to find?’

‘Locked in the workshop where everyone had temporarily lost access to,’ Tony laughs, ‘FRIDAY’ll let you in.’

‘Sure thing,’ she starts to walk away. ‘TONY! STOP IT!’

This time Steve really does have to hold him up from his laughter as Wanda disappears, face bright red. ‘Tony, will you stop sharing our private life with Wanda as a way to tease her please.’

‘Oh don’t worry, sweetheart,’ Tony’s grin is devilish, ‘that was just one of my fantasies.’

‘Oh for the love of…I need the bar,’ Steve groans. ‘And I _don’t_ want to know.’

‘Yeah you do,’ he laughs.

* * *

‘Ok, drinking contest rules!’ Valkyrie’s shout gets everyone’s attention and they head towards the contest arena. Which has now migrated from the original table and is now their main seating area. ‘Everyone has a chosen drink, we all fill the same sized glasses and drink at the same time. You keep going until either you’re sick or you pass out.’

‘There is so much wrong with this,’ Rhodes groans.

‘Sitting out you coward?’ Rocket taunts.

‘I’ve done a drinking contest with Thor before, I’m going to help carry your bodies to your beds,’ he retorts.

‘So,’ Valkyrie claps her hands together. ‘Who is _not_ taking part?’

‘I will bow out,’ Tony says, taking his last drink, ‘and help Rhodey take you all back to bed.’

‘I better not risk it,’ Wanda smiles, ‘I’ll help mediate.’ 

‘Wade’s not because it’ll be cheating: his healing ability processes the alcohol too quickly,’ Peter says before his boyfriend can get a word in. ‘I’ll-’

‘Also be sitting out because you’re not old enough-’

‘Steve don’t be a boring bastard!’ Bucky argues

‘-and had more than enough alcohol _last_ Christmas and we don’t need a repeat of that,’ Steve finishes, Peter turning bright red as he does and mumbling something about having learned his lesson.

‘Though, it might be a good idea for it to be around friends this time?’ Tony suggests, and immediately backs down at the look Steve sends him. ‘Nope, sorry Pete, Captain has spoken. You come sit with me and we’ll share some and watch and laugh, and help Wanda adjudicate.’

‘Wait,’ Peter says quietly as he hops onto a stool next to Tony and the others all head to the seats while Wanda gets out everyone’s drink of choice and then joins them, Wade and Rhodey at the bar, ‘you mean you’re letting me drink?’

‘Course I am, Steve’ll be too busy to notice and we’re not going to get through enough to get you drunk if it took a couple of bottles of Vodka last time.’

‘You’re the best,’ Peter grins, then pulls a face as he sniffs the whiskey Tony offers him. ‘We got anything else?’

‘Have one of my beers, Baby Boy,’ Wade throws one that the teenager catches easily, barely turning his head.

‘Thanks, Wade, who do we think is going to win?’

‘Not me,’ Bruce says, hopping up next to them, ‘I do not need Hulk making another reappearance. Good thing Cassie managed to go home to her mom though, right? Can you imagine any of this lot trying to cope with a kid here in the morning?’

‘Oh we won’t have to imagine,’ Wade laughs, ‘I can do a good enough impression.’

‘Please tell me you’ve got that hangover cure from Loki out of his brain,’ Tony turns to Wanda.

She laughs. ‘Don’t worry he actually wrote it down for me. I kept it somewhere safe.’

‘Alright. First drink ready!’ Valkyrie calls.

‘Place your bets,’ Rhodes grins. ‘Who do we think is going to be first out?’

‘My money’s on Mantis,’ Tony says, ‘she’s definitely not been around alcohol before and she’ll feed off everyone else; either that or Rocket or Groot simply based on body mass.’

‘I’m saying Rocket,’ Bruce says.

‘Bets please gentlemen,’ Wade grins, taking out a pen and piece of paper and writing down their bets.

* * *

Tony won the first bet: Mantis was the first one to fall to the side asleep. Rhodes simply sighs and goes to pick her up, taking the alien down to her room. Groot almost passes unnoticed that he’s dropped out, until Rocket falls over and knocks them both over. Bruce offers to take them down to their shared room.

Surprisingly the next to go out is Hope, who only just managed to find a trash can to vomit into before Wanda helps her to her room.

‘I’m never letting her live it down that I beat her,’ Scott proclaims proudly.

‘Don’t get too cocky,’ Strange chastises, seemingly still fairly sober, ‘you don’t know how much longer you’ll be lasting.’

‘That,’ Wade declares on his return from cleaning out the vomit, ‘was disgusting. Next time can we please aim over the side of the balcony?’

‘Clint’s next,’ Bruce says as the mercenary takes his seat again, ‘idiot wasn’t pacing himself earlier.’

‘Righto, doc, one Hawkeye bet coming right up.’

Bruce is right. Clint does a rather spectacular projectile vomit, thankfully over the side of the balcony, so Wade rewards him by helping him back to his room, and even giving Natasha the finger on his behalf as she teases him.

Sam follows, ducking out before he can either vomit or pass out, and stumbles back to his room with Peter as his crutch, with Scott following not long after.

‘You know,’ Fury slurs as Wanda helps Ororo, who has also decided to bow out before making a fool of herself, to her room, after the priestess gives T’Challa rather enthusiastic goodnight kiss, ‘I’ve always liked you guys the most out of everyone I’ve worked with.’

‘Hey!’ Carol pouts.

‘Except Carol of course. And Phil. I was so glad Phil came back. Maybe I should have got Phil to come here, he’s good at cleaning up messes. Always cleaned up after you guys.’

‘Oh god who thought it was a good idea to get Nick drunk?’ Tony groans, he looks to Wanda when she returns to her seat. ‘How close is Fury to being out?’

‘Two drinks,’ she predicts.

‘Good, the guys a sentimental drunk and I can’t deal with a sentimental Nick Fury,’ the inventor groans.

Fury falls asleep and Strange decides to bow out, already at the stage where he has to stay at the facility rather than risk a portal back to the Sanctum. The Cloak carries him to his room as Wade fireman lifts Fury to his. By the time he gets back T’Challa has also decided to bow out and preserve his dignity, though his sister is showing no signs of doing the same..

‘I think this is the first time I’ve actually seen Natasha anything other than fully with it,’ Rhodes says in wonderment.

‘Who’s next?’ Peter asks Wanda.

‘Nebula. She’s hiding it well, but she’s about one- nope she’s gone,’ she laughs.

Drax follows next, having been over enthusiastic in his consumption earlier in the night like Clint had been. Quill follows not long after, singing to himself as Rhodes and Wade drag him to his room between them.

‘Boys versus Girls,’ Natasha’s grin is predatory. She, Valkyrie, Shuri and Carol are still standing for the girls; Loki, Bucky, Thor and Steve for the boys.

Bucky says something to her in Russian that Tony doesn’t understand, raising his glass in a toast and downing his drink in one, the red headed assassin following his example.

‘At least make toasts we can all understand!’ Shuri complains as the others down their glasses. She quickly refills her own and says something in Wakanda, knocking her drink back and raising her now empty glass in a toast. ‘Or we’ll all start making our way around the galaxy in toasts.’

‘A fine idea!’ Thor booms out in laughter.

Shuri, despite her best efforts, is at a disadvantage by not having any physical enhancements like her opponents, and to not having had as much experience with drinking. She’s the next one out, falling asleep on Natasha’s shoulder until Peter carries her down to her room.

‘Err…where did Loki and Bucky go?’ he asks when he gets back.

Tony, still trying to hold in his laughter, gestures for Bruce to answer.

‘Bucky got rather impatient and decided to drag Loki away from the competition,’ Bruce’s face is decidedly uncomfortable, ‘I’ll spare you his turn of phrase.’

‘And he didn’t lose his head to Mjolnir?’ Peter asks.

‘Well Loki didn’t seem overly upset at the idea, and I’m not entirely sure Thor heard. He’s drunker than he’d let you believe,’ Bruce replies.

* * *

‘Tony I don’t _want_ to go to bed,’ Steve pouts later as he somehow manages to manhandle his boyfriend through the door and dropping him unceremoniously onto the bed.

‘Steve, honey, you are drunker than I actually thought was possible for you to get. As the one in this relationship who is an _expert_ in getting drunk, trust me when I say you will want to go to sleep.’

‘You say this,’ Steve’s grin is wicked and Tony is tested to his limit not to reach in and kiss those lips, ‘yet you’re still trying to get my clothes off.’

‘You are not going to want to sleep in your clothes,’ he tells him. _Stop looking at his lips, stop looking at his lips_ , he chants to himself.

‘But I _won_ ,’ the soldier pouts, falling onto his back as Tony finally manages to get his top off, ‘don’t I get something for winning?’

‘Trust me, baby,’ he laughs, starting to help Steve get out of his shoes and then his pants, ‘I’m going to make sure you are reminding everyone of this for the next few _years_. And I promise when you aren’t blind drunk, or hugely hungover, I will _definitely_ be making sure you know how proud I am of you. But for now,’ he manages to finish getting Steve’s clothes off and gets him under the covers, thankful they had to stop off at the bathroom on the way to the bedroom or he wasn’t sure how he was going to manage, ‘I’m just going to make sure you’re as comfortable as you can be.’

Knowing he’ll only complain in the morning if Tony doesn’t, he folds Steve’s clothes before putting them on the chair and heading to the bathroom to finish getting ready for bed himself.

By the time he’s climbing in next to the soldier, Steve is already breathing deeply. Tony presses a kiss to Steve’s forehead and wraps his arms around him. ‘Goodnight, Steve.’

‘Love you, Tony,’ comes the mumbled reply.

‘Love you, too,’ he replies.

_Who would have thought Steve Rogers would win a drinking contest?_ He chuckles to himself, before closing his eyes and letting Steve’s warmth lull him to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hi everyone! It's finally finished. I'm so sorry it's taken so long, I hope it was worth the wait. Thank you so much for all the reviews you've been leaving on this story, I'm glad you'd enjoyed it so far I hope the end lived up to expectations. And by popular demand Bucky/Loki came back.
> 
> The next story in the main series may take a while to upload, I'm in the process of applying for a masters degree so it might take me a bit longer to finish the next story and I don't want to do what I did with this one where I can't keep the regular updates coming. You know as soon as I start posting it, though, that it is finished.
> 
> Thank you so so much for all your support.  
> Love always,  
> L x

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Hi everyone. Sorry I'm late posting the Christmas story this year. I wasn't originally going to do one then Samus basically told me I should and during a conversation with her I got an idea for one so yeah, her fault we've got one this year. I'm only three chapters in so far and hoping I can keep up with the writing to give you an update twice a week. Let me know if you have any requests as there is definitely room for requests still!
> 
> Let me know what you think of this first chapter!
> 
> Love always,  
> L x


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